


Beyond The Gate

by Artemis_HNR



Series: Beyond the Gate [1]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime 2003), Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-17
Updated: 2017-01-10
Packaged: 2018-05-27 08:49:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 14
Words: 40,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6277744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Artemis_HNR/pseuds/Artemis_HNR
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Twins Cassi and Amy Black are thrown into a world of chaos as the sisters are forced to fight through the Ishvalan Civil War. They were tossed back through time and have to take up arms in a plot they know all too well. How will things end for them? Will they ever find a way to return home? Rated Mature for later chapters. (Possible T.W. in later chapters there will be no notifications for them because they break from the story you have been warned ahead of time.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, everyone. This is a collaborative story with my dear friend, Kurosawa-san (she is on fanfiction.net). We do not claim FullMetal Alchemist or its characters as our own, all credit goes to Hiromu Arakawa. We did create the sisters Cassi and Amy.

I

The basement was dark as usual with only a small lamp illuminating the crowded desk. It swung steadily from a thin chain, creating a spotlight on the hunched figure over the desk. Down here, it smelled of coffee and human sweat, as if the sole occupant was doing heavy lifting instead of doing calculations. The stairs creaked as someone descended into the darkened room.

“Mom?” a girl called. She rubbed her arms, the basement always gave her a creepy feeling. “Dad says dinner’s ready…” she let her words hang in the air but her mother seemed to be in a world of her own. “Mom?” she called again and shuffled forward. Her mother's dark hair had fallen loose from her ponytail and looked greasy in the light. Suddenly, the woman shot up from her seat with a yell.

“I've got it!” She dashed to a corner of the room, it was amazing she didn't stumble on all the scraps of computers and machines she had laying around. The generator hummed to life and the rest of the basement burst into a ray of light. The girl had to cover her eyes and wait for them to adjust to the new brightness. The room wasn't large, but it seemed small because it was filled with junk. Her mother loved to collect scraps and tinker down here in the dark, her latest project, her “baby”, always kept her for hours at a time, sometimes days. Most times it seemed she and her sister didn't even have a mother. The only times they could drag her out of her hovel was when they put on the _Harry Potter_ movies, or more recently _Doctor Who_ episodes. The girl turned as she heard someone else enter the basement.

“Amy, did you tell her dinner is on?” her sister asked.

“I told her, Cassi,” Amy said, “not like it matters.” Cassi stood beside her and they watched their mother's frenzy as she hopped over the scattered machinery on the floor. She was mumbling under her breath as she pulled random pieces and placed them together.

“Mom? MOM!” Cassi yelled and finally the woman turned around. She beamed at her daughters and swept her hands on her dirty lab coat.

“Hello girls,” she said in a faint English accent. “What? Is lunch on? Tell your father, I'll eat in a bit. I'm almost finished. I'm certain this time.”

“It's dinnertime, mom.” Amy began but their mother had already returned to her tinkering. She rubbed her temples, a movement her sister mirrored.

Amy marched forward and yanked on her mother's lab coat. “Mom, come on up. Please,” she said. Finally, their mother seemed to come down from her cloud and studied the two girls.

“Oh dears, I haven't been a good mother, have I?” She motioned Cassi forward and looped an arm around them both. “Oh my sweet, sweet girls. Come, let us have some dinner and maybe a bit of telly.”

Amy giggled, glad to have their mother back even for a short while. They silenced the generator and the lights blinked off, leaving the single bulb again.

“So, what are you working on this time mom?” Cassi asked as they went up the stairs.

“Oh, something marvelous!” the woman clapped her hands. “I think I've figured out the secrets of time travel—oh is that beef stew I smell?”

Their father, leaned back in his seat, arms out wide, “Ah! The prodigal wife returns!” he said with a smile. It was obvious that the girls received most of their looks from their mother, her long black hair and pale skin. They didn't have her black eyes however, nor their father's brown eyes; their eyes were a light grey, or silver as their mother liked to say. They each took their seats and began to eat.

“Yes, so my girls as I was telling you before, I believe I have found after 16 years of tedious work and dedication the secret to Time-Travel.” She said and gave a mystical wave of her hand.

“Are you serious?” Amy asked through a mouthful of stew.

“Swallow, dear.”

She did and asked, “your machine, mom, do you really think you can travel through time?”

Their mother nodded enthusiastically, “yes yes, I'm surprised why I didn't see the solution sooner. The Doctor was right along. Time isn't linear—”

“Goal!”

“Dad!” the twins cried. He looked at them sheepishly, and turned off his phone. He blew a kiss to his wife who pretended to catch it.

“Wasn't that the block…”  
“It’s Bloke dad.”  
“Right sorry. The _Bloke,”_ He raised his eyebrow to Cassi, “ who said time was _wibbly_? That doesn't sound like science to me,” he said.

“Time is “from a non-linear, non-subjective point of view, more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff”.

“You always sound so sexy when you speak nerd.” He said dryly.

“Dad!” the twins yelled and made the point to plug their ears.

“What?” he shrugged, “you were made somehow. You're almost sixteen, you should know all about this. Now girls because _apparently_ you can’t remember, when your daddy met mommy they decided to go to a concert. At that concert mommy and daddy got hopelessly drunk _and_ we went home together _and_ clothes magically started disappearing…. ”  
“LA LA LA LA LA I’m not hearing this! LA LA LA LA LA!” Cassi started yelling at the top of her lungs.

“AS I was _saying_ ,” their mother cleared her throat, “time isn't linear and of course, neither is space.”

“That's three dimensional,” Cassi said.

“Correct!” their mother beamed. “But that's not all, let's say, that time is the fourth dimension and the fifth...”

She never slowed in her explanations, most of the words she used flew over the girls’ and their father’s heads. Dinner finished quickly and both adults were off to bed, leaving the girls to their own devices. They lay on the floor, eyes glued to the television as they watched their favorite show, _Full metal Alchemist_. They had the volume turned down low as to not disturb their parents.

Suddenly, the television went dark.

The girls looked to each other in irritation. Above their heads the fan started to whirl to a stop. Getting up the two turned to the kitchen and the neon glow of the microwave was dead as well.

“Damn it, let's go check the box,” Amy said. They grabbed the emergency flashlight from the pantry closet and ventured into black of the basement hand in hand. The flashlight’s glow created creeping, monstrous shadows along the walls. The darkness intensified the sounds of the room, the dying clicks of the air conditioner, the groaning of the house above them, the pounding in their hearts and the skittering of something along the floor. Amy clung to her sister as they stopped in their tracks.

Something clattered nearby and they jumped.

“Sorry,” Cassi whispered. “I hit something.”

They continued slowly until a loud crash made them scream. Amy turned to bolt right back to the stairs but tripped. The flashlight fell from her hand and spun across the floor. In the light’s beam, two eyes shone brightly.

“Oliver!” Cassi said with annoyance and picked up the orange tabby. “Shoo!” she placed him on the steps and he dashed up. Cassi snickered as she then helped up her sister, “Oliver scared you,” she said in sing-song.

“Shut it,” Amy punched Cassi’s arm and they continued their trek.

The fuse box was on the other side of the basement by the generator. Amy handed the light to Cassi, and opened the box. She expertly flipped an array of switches and the basement blinked to life in various whirls and hums.

“Alright, we should be good.” The two turned to go but stopped at the sight of their mother's machine. It didn't look like much, more akin to a heap of scrap rather than a fine tuned machine. The base was square, bulky and had wires running out of it into the genie. A short rod rose from the base and ended into an old keyboard that was missing the function and shift keys. On the table next to the machine was an old, bulky computer monitor from the 90’s. On its screen was a blinking green line.

“She must have forgotten to turn it off,” Cassi said.

“Maybe, yeah.” Amy said. “Should we turn it off?”

Cassi pressed the power button and a stream of green numbers and characters ran down the computer screen. She whispered, “crap!” After a few seconds, the computer read:

 

C:\> **Enter Destination:**

**Diagon Alley;**

**> >>**

**> >>**

**> >>**

**ERROR**

**> >>**

**> >>**

**> >>**

**Request time out**

**ERROR; destination not found**

**C:\ > exit**

 

“She tried….” Amy started.

“...to go to Diagon Alley,” Cassi finished. The girls sighed.

“I knew she was obsessed, but this is a whole new level.”

“She's probably making a game,” Cassi said, “let's try it out.” Her hand darted forward to the keyboard.

“Or...mom has finally snapped. Don't touch it and let's head back, I hate this place.” Amy tugged at her sister's shirt but her eyes stared at the screen. “Cassi...”

“It's not like it's gonna work,” she said as she pressed the backspace button. The words that replaced Diagon Alley with Ametris. “And...enter,” she said as her finger hovered over the key.

“Cassi!” Amy chided and tried to grab her hand. Cassi shoved her back.

“Just a quick check.”

“No! We're going upstairs.” They struggled over the keyboard and accidentally hit a few extra keys. They stumbled over the base, Cassi had a fist full of her sister's hair while Amy's teeth clamped down on her arm. Neither girl relented until they heard a series of pings. They froze and turned to the monitor.

The screen read:

 

**Enter Destination**

**Ametris; XXXXXXXX**

**Location found**

 

“No way.” Cassi whispered in awe.

“It's a mistake,” Amy countered. It had to be. Another line popped onto the screen.

 

**Standby**

 

“Standby for what?” Amy didn't have to wait for an answer, the machine's base emitted a ghastly whirling sound and bright light engulfed them. Then they were falling.

 


	2. II

II

“Holy Crap!” Amy cried as they tumbled through the air. They fell towards a red tarp which split under their combined weight. Boxes of fruits broke their fall. Amy sat up with sticky orange nectar dripping from her arms.

“What the crap?” Cassi yelled. The sisters winced when they tried to stand, they could feel the bruises starting to form. They both helped each other out of the fruit stand.

  
“Toto I don’t think we Kansas anymore.” Cassi muttered looking to her twin.

  
“Now is not the time for jokes, Cassi!” Amy growled pushing her sister “Mom, fucking did it now. We have been transported to God knows where and now we need to get home!” Amy growled as she pushed past her twin and started to stomp off in a random direction.

  
“Sis come on it was just a joke.” Cassi stated trailing after her. After looking around, they seemed to have been deposited in a desert village near the train station. The tracks clattered as the train rushed in. The wheels shrieked to a halt. Plumes of steam arose from the front of the train.

  
Several men and a few women in navy blue uniforms disembarked from the train and others hopped on. The soldiers leaving looked haggard and dragged their feet before slumping into their seats. The arriving crowd was full of fresh young faces, their eyes eager and their speak adamant.

“We’ll show those rebels a thing or two!” One young man remarked. His friend pumped his fist in the air and they left laughing.

“Rebels?” Cassi stated turning to her twin. Amy’s face was stony as she examined the crowd and dress.

“If mom made a time machine and we are stuck here I swear to God I will hurt you Cassi.” Amy growled out as she pushed through the crowd.

“Amy come back don’t leave me here!” Cassie shouted “‘Scuse me...Pardon….Oh Sorry...Amalthea!”

Amy growled as she ignored her sister’s calls. She followed the sea of blue as she tried to find a phone or even a map to tell them where they were.

  
When Cassi finally caught up to Amy she was standing in front of a large map with the train guild on it.

“This is not happening.” Amy stated staring at the large map.  
“What?”

The rush of voices surrounded the twins. They turned to find themselves in the middle of the crowd, unsure of what to do..

“You two! What are you doing! You're late!” A large man lumbered towards them in a familiar blue uniform. His sharp brown eyes studied them up and down. “We expected you nurses days ago. There is time for sightseeing later. Follow me you’ve wasted enough time.”

“We're... not... nurses.” Amy said in confusion looking between the man in blue and her twin.

Cassi stared at the man before realization bled into her expression and she had stars in her eyes. “No sir we are new recruits!”  
Amy turned to look at Cassi so fast, she was sure she  heard her neck crack.

“New recruits?”

“Sir, yes sir.” Cassi said snapping to attention and giving him a quick salute.

The man rubbed a hand over his shaved head. “Shit, they sent me girls when I asked for men.”

Amy could hear Cassi hum “Make a Man Out of You” under her breath.

“What was that cadet?” the man yelled. The sisters snapped to attention.

“Did they send me daughters when I asked for sons!” Cassi sang. The man glared at Cassi before he ran his hand down his face.

“Alright, beggars can't be choosers. The name's Colonel Ryan and you two?”

“Amy.”

“Cassi.”

“Amy and Cassi what? This is the military, you signed up for it, start acting like it.”

Amy mumbled under her breath and the Colonel asked her to repeat.

“Amalthea Sarir Black,” she said, “sir.”

“Cassiopeia Sarin Black, sir!” Cassi said with more enthusiasm.

The colonel nodded and ushered the two to follow him.   
“Well Blacks welcome to Ishbal. Follow me to the camp. If you plan to survive your stay here you will need to keep alert.” As the twins followed him they took note of the people.The locals had tanned skin and silvery hair. There wasn’t many of them this close to the military’s camp. They walked passed quickly with their heads down after being routinely checked by the roaming Military Personnel. There was a heavy tone in the air that the twins took notice of as they got closer to the camp. They soon saw more military blues and the flag of the Capitol flew overhead.

“Now seeing as you both seem light-handed I’m going to assume your recruiting officers kicked you to me with Jack Shit Nothing! Lazy bastards. There,” he pointed towards a makeshift tent. “Go get some gear and meet me back here for your mission status.” The girls walked as if in a dream and waited in line for their gear, an Amestrian uniform, boots, and knapsack with “basic” necessities.  

Cassi practically bounced in excitement as she looked at the uniform. “Is…. Is this real? Tell me this is real. Mom did it. She actually did it!” Cassi smiled brightly as she got her uniform. Looking at the size of it she turned to the man issuing the gear. “Um sorry do you have anything smaller than this?”

“That is the smallest we have. NEXT!”

“Crap... now I know how Edward felt.” She muttered as she turned to her sister.

“Amy…. You alright?”

“Am I alright?” Amy turned to her sister with a glare “We fell out of the fucking sky!”

“This is an immersion game sis. You know a full dive system! This is like…. Dot Hack!” Cassi whispered in excitement as the two went to a curtained off area to put on their new uniforms.

“You mean a game where we are probably at home in a fucking coma! That’s even better!” Amy growled out as she tied up her pants wrapping the belt around her waist twice to hold up the baggy pants.

“Oh stop being so dramatic sissy, we will be fine.”

“Says you!”

When the two finally stepped out of the tent and looked at their new commanding officer they could practically see the steam rising of the man.

“For fuck’s sake! Are you two fucking children? You are practically swimming in those damn uniforms.” He shouted as he grabbed a rock and then threw it into the distance.

“Follow me! Women, fucking women,” he growled out as he stomped his way through the base. “They didn’t even send me a scrawny ass boy, no they insult me by sending me two wet behind the ears women.” “Now I’m going to make this fast,” he continued “Over there is the mess! You get 3 hots a day 0500, 1200, and 1900. Do not miss your fucking meals or I will hunt you the fuck down and drag you to the mess and fucking spoon feed you like the children you are! I will not put up with vanity out here. You will eat, you will gain weight and you will be healthy! Am I clear?”

“Sir, yes, Sir”

“Now because you are females you will have your housing near the officer's quarters. You will not sleep with the men. You will not enter male quarters unsupervised. You will not go sneaking around near male quarters. There will be no sexual encounters in my camp. The same will apply to the men, they will not enter your quarters. They will not be alone near your housing. They are not allowed in your chambers. If you are harassed sexually by the men I want to be notified immediately and I will put them in their place: six feet under the ground you hear me. I run a clean base here.”

“Sir, yes, sir.”

“The med bay is over there.” Colonel Ryan stopped walking suddenly and the girls almost ran into him. He cleared his throat, about-faced and stared right over their heads.“I know you females have your…. Time... that I don’t want to fucking even think about. One week a month you will have nurse duty, No question! I won’t give you shit at that time. I’m not leaving a hostile female out and about with a gun when she is bleeding due to the devil’s waterfall. Take your time when you need it. Help out the doctors, take your break, maybe you will learn something that will be useful.”

“Sir, yes sir.”

“And goddamnit don’t be a parrot; tell me if you understand!”

Amy and Cassi looked at each other before nodding at Colonel Ryan. He just growled before he turned around again to continue their tour.  
“Training will start tomorrow, we will be getting you and your peers into shape.” He stated before he paused turning to look the two up and down. Cassie and Amy made frequent pauses to adjust their pants to try and avoid tripping over themselves.   
“Fucking Hell…. There should be a sewing kit in your quarters. Do me a favor and fucking alter that uniform to suit you. I don’t want you making it into a harlot dress or a damn skirt. Functional Military Wear. You will be wearing it everyday you are here.  I won’t put up with you both tripping on your pants. You get your weapons tomorrow and I will make sure you two can fucking shoot before I send you both to the front lines. Here we are get out of my sight.” He muttered while shaking his head, “Fucking women! Women! Not even a cripple, they sent me females!”

Cassi watched the man stomp off. “Well isn’t he a ball of sunshine.” Cassi said with a smile. “Let’s go find our save point.”

“Stereotypical hard-ass CO, check,” Amy mumbled. The female housing building was dwarfed by the size of the officer quarters beside it, making it look like a shack in comparison. They entered the musty building and immediately opened the windows to let in some fresh air. “Sweet some beds.” The natural light revealed the stark furniture in the small room. There were four military cots, two on each side of the room, and a small chest at the foot of each bed. Amy dropped her things on top of one of the chests and jumped into a bed. She heard another bed squeak as her sister lay down on the adjacent bed. She closed her eyes and waited….and waited.

“Did yours save?”

“I don't know,” Cassi replied.

There came a knock on their door.

“Um, come in!” The girls said in unison.

The door opened but the person remained outside. “I'm 2nd Lieutenant Compton.” The officer looked nervous or maybe it was the heat of the desert because he was sweating profusely. “It seems like your paperwork has been lost in transit and the Colonel needed you to fill these out.” He extended two clipboards with one hand.

“You could just come in,” Amy said. The young man shook his head furiously.

“Colonel's orders, no man is allowed to step foot in the female barracks,” he gulped, “please I don't want to get my balls cut off.”

Amy grabbed the clipboards and the lieutenant jumped away from the doorway.

“I'll be waiting right here!” he yelled and did an about-face. His back was rigid. Amy closed the door slowly and passed a clipboard to her sister.

“So weird. Got to give mom creds for unique characters.” The clipboard contained a single sheet of paper. It called for the regular information such name, date of birth, residency… “Um, what year is this supposed to be?” she asked. Cassi shrugged and stuck her head out of the door.

“Lieutenant, not to be a bother, but what is today's date?”

Compton spoke with his back turned to them. “March 20 1901, miss.”

“Thanks!”

The girls quickly filled out the rest of the information, placing their date of birth as 12/06/1885.

“What about residency? It's not like we can say we're from San Diego.” Amy said.

Cassi tapped her pen on the paper before scrawling the word Resembool. “Like Ed and Al.”

They went outside to give Compton their registration then returned to their barrack. There was a small hallway that lead to a bathroom, although dirty, it was still in working condition. The girls spent the rest of the day attempting to mend their uniforms. A few hours passed before the evening bell rang. Amy stood and stretched. The misshapen shape that was her new uniform lay crumpled on her cot.

“Ugh, how are we going to iron this?” The twins did their best but the stitched lines were crooked and slanted. At least, the uniforms won’t drag across the floor. The sisters left their sewn disasters behind and joined the mass of soldiers milling towards the meal stations.

They grabbed trays and walked along the line as the men assigned to mess duty slopped food onto their trays. Amy grimaced at the sight but remained silent. One man dropped a roll onto her tray and it clattered as if it were a rock. He shrugged at her perplexed stare as if to say he could do nothing about it, then shooed her to give Cassi the same look.

Now, with their “meals” in tow, the sisters stood unsure of where to sit. There were rows upon rows of tables and benches set up. Those who could not find a seat, took to the ground or on overturned barrels or boxes.

Cassi scanned the area, stopped, then did a double take. She pulled on her sister’s sleeve.

“Is that who I think it is?” She asked. Cassi pointed to a solitary figure at the far left table with long blonde hair that reached her waist. The woman ate as if she were a machine, calculated and efficient.  

“Oh my gosh, it’s--”

“Olivier Armstrong!” Cassi finished excitedly. The sisters walked over and stood in front of the table. Olivier glanced at them.

“Are you going to stare all day?” Her voice was icy and the girls felt a chill in the air.

“May we please sit with you,” Cassi asked, “ma’am?”

Olivier closed her eyes and gave a slight nod. The girls sat across from her and began to eat.

“New recruits?” Olivier stated after a moment examining the two.

“Yes ma'am” Amy stated looking at her. The twins pick at their meal.

“If you want to keep your teeth I recommend you dip that rock in the soup and let it soak a bit before you eat it.” Olivier stated as Cassi pulled the roll away from her mouth and dropped it in her soup.

“Ah, good you are now acquainted,” came Colonel Ryan’s voice. He slid in beside Olivier and clapped her on the shoulder. “Armstrong, these are the Blacks, Cassiopeia and Amalthea, they are under your direct command now. Blacks, Armstrong here has as much authority as I if not more when it concerns you both. If you have any problems you go to her. If she can’t handle it she will come to me.”

Olivier’s eyes widened slightly before her mask fell into place once more. “....understood, sir.”

The colonel said to the girls, “Lt. Colonel Armstrong is the perfect soldier, maybe you two will learn something from her. You three have a good meal.” He bid them goodbye and left.

Olivier finished her meal and stood quietly, “come find me when you’re finished. Training begins immediately.”

“Yes ma’am,” the sisters nodded before looking at each other in worry.


	3. III

III

There was a banging on their door. “Five minutes, ladies!” barked Olivier Armstrong.

“It's too early to be alive,” Amy sandwiched her head between her pillow and the cot. The banging intensified before Olivier kicked the door in.

“Nuuu.” Cassi whimpered as she pulled her blanket over her head not wanting to wake up. 

“Amalthea and Cassiopeia Black you have to the count of three to get your lazy asses out of bed!” Olivier yelled as she marched into their room. Seeing the two wrapped up in their sheets she growled as she left the room.   
“Is she gone…” Cassi mummered as she rolled over again; her sleep had been disturbed enough that she was awake but she didn’t want to get out of bed.

“Hopefully….” Amy moaned as she moved her pillow back under her head.

“One….” Olivier called out from outside their door

“Two…” She walked into the building 

“Three!” Olivier yelled as she splashed a bucket first at Amy and then another at Cassi.  The two jumped out of bed in shock shivering at the cold water.

“I said asses out! Don’t make me come in here again!” The girls scrambled into their uniforms which despite their mending, were still too baggy. They ran outside into the chilly desert air. They glanced around but they were the only ones up.

“Did we miss the wake up call?” Amy whispered. Cassi shrugged.

“The men won’t be awake for another hour and a half. You will awaken before the men, you will be dismissed after them. Understood?”

“Y--yes ma’am.” 

“Good,” Olivier nodded and tossed them a banana each. “For the stamina. Hurry up and eat so we can begin your warm-ups.” The girls forced themselves to eat the whole banana as Olivier gave them the rundown for the rest of the day. After their warm-up, Olivier sent them to run from one side of the base to the other. 

“Glad we fucking joined the military now?” Amy huffed once they were out of Olivier’s ear shot.

“Don’t start that now,” Cassi said and focusing on running. By the time they were half-way done, a trumpet resounded on the base. The groggy recruits filed out of their bunkers together and began their morning workouts.

The day went fast from doing drills, exercises and more drills. Olivier worked the twins harder and longer than the men. When the men stopped for breakfast the women were still running the track. Olivier watched the two struggle with the routine. 

“You both need to understand that this is a man’s battle. If you both want to survive it, you need to be better than the men. You need to work harder and longer. When the men stop at 5 repetitions, you will do 10 repetitions. When the men run a 5k, you will run a 10k. You are being trained by Olivier Mira Armstrong, Heiress to the Noble house of Armstrong. The name Armstrong holds power. I am training you up to my level; I am giving you both my time and energy and you both will not let me down.”

The twins nodded, too out of breath to respond otherwise. Olivier released them for breakfast. The dish was dry bread and pale, lumpy bowl of mush. It was oatmeal, apparently. 

“Food is fuel,” Olivier simply said and shoveled the lumpy mess into her mouth. The girls mirrored Olivier’s mechanical eating habit.

The afternoon was filled with shooting drills.

“Finally, something cool,” Amy whispered. The rifle she was issued heavier than she anticipated.

“Little girls shouldn't be playing with guns.” The armory officer laughed as he watched her struggle.

“I'll show you little.” Amy hoisted the gun and tried to keep it level. Across the field, about twenty meters ahead were a line of dummies with paper targets on them.

Amy fired. The shot missed the target by a few feet and hit the ground. Men chuckled behind her. She adjusted and fired again. She missed again. She cursed her breath.

“This is why women shouldn't be the military.”

She sent a glare over her shoulder but she couldn't tell who had said it. Cassi gave her a thumbs up and she tried again. Amy tuned everyone else out and focused on her target. This time, she managed to hit the edge of the outermost ring. Although she wasn't satisfied, she stepped back so Cassi could have her turn.

“Another disappointment,” came the whisper.

Amy glared at the man , if anyone could hit that target it would be Cassi.

Cassi took the gun and examined it trying to get a feel for its weight. Looking out at the target she peered down the muzzle and lined up her barrel with the target. She ignored the jeering men as she took a breath. 

"We are waiting Black? Or would you rather re-enlist as a nurse?" One of the men called back.

"Oh yea, I know we would love you to take care of all our problems." Another stated making a suggestive swing of his hips.

“Wilson! Cameron! Stop the shit or I will have you both running drills till tomorrow morning.” Colonel Ryan yelled from the sidelines. Olivier stood to the side as well watching her recruits with peering eyes. She appeared to calculate their strengths and weaknesses.

Cassi gritted her teeth as she took a final breath and pulled the trigger. Her bullet cut through the air and impaled the dummy a few rings short of the center.

"Shit!" one of the men shouted as they all stood up straight and stared between Cassi and her target.

"You have two more shots Black." The Colonel stated 

Adjusting her grip on the gun she lined up her shot and fired again This time her shot sailed true hitting the target dead center. 

As the men behind her shuffled in shock Cassi aligned her shot again and fired the final shot tearing into the dummy head.

"No one likes a show-off Black, get back into line!" Their commanding officer yelled with a smirk. Cassi rested her weapon against a crate and fell back into line trying to stifle a smile that wanted to spread across her face. Olivier also had a hint of a smirk on her face as she stood a pace behind Colonel Ryan eyeing all the recruits.

"Now if a little girl can give me a dead ringer and a headshot you sorry asses should be able to as well. Start practicing! And Miss Black I want you to work twice as hard as these sorry asses. If Twinkle toes here can perform that marksmanship you can too."  he stated as he stared Amy down.

After the shooting drill, they broke for dinner. Mystery goop and more dry bread. They ate and then dragged their sore bodies back to their quarters. Someone yanked them back by their collars.

“Didn’t I say you’ll be dismissed after the men?” She dragged them back to the shooting range. “That was a deplorable display. In a real battle, you’ll get yourselves and your squad killed. You will not be liabilities. Now, this is how you hold a gun,” she modeled the form and took aim. Her bullet hit the dummy between the eyes. Amy and Cassi whistled in amazement.

For the next two hours, they practiced with different maneuvers Olivier always eyeing to make sure their aim was true. Finally, as the lanterns began to die out, Olivier released them. 

The next morning was similar to the day prior, even the ice water bath Olivier gave the twins. “Outside, five minutes,” the officer tossed them each an apple and left. This time after their warm-up, Olivier had them practice hand to hand combat.  
“I refuse to witness yesterday’s deplorable display. Today you both will be practicing hand to hand combat training. I want you both to hold your own in your practice today and I will make it known that you will be practicing both hand to hand and your marksmanship every day till I am certain you are proficient.”    
Olivier positioned them next to two spin dummies. The dummies seemed to grow out of the earth, as if transmuted. When they finished, the girls were bruised and panting and forced to run on the track. The men joined them an hour later and then they all broke for breakfast. 

After the recruits fell out of the mess, Colonel Ryan had everyone huddle around four dirt rings. He broke them off into groups and partnered each of the recruits off. 

Cassi looked at the dirt ring that was set up in front of them. "You want me to what now?"

"Black, a soldier is not just a good Marksmen they are also well trained in hand to hand combat. You and Wilson here will be fighting with each other. You both will spar till one of you has pinned the other. Wilson if you even touch her suggestively I will chop off both your hands and make you a eunuch myself!" The Colonel yelled making the man gulp.

"Begin." with a shot fired in the air the two were circling each other. As Wilson made to lunge at her Cassi cartwheeled out of the way. Wilson growled as he made to lunge at her again but she rolled away to the right.

"Come on Black! Fight back. This is not a game! If you get caught what do you think the enemy will do to a little wisp of a woman like you. They will eat you alive and they won't be having any godly thoughts when they have you pinned!"

Cassi gulped as Wilson made to lunge at her again and then faked him out when she moved in the opposite direction. Seeing Wilson rush her she dropped and kicked her feet up. The kick hit Wilson in the chest and the momentum carried him over her head and into the dirt.

"Fuck!" Wilson shouted.

As Cassi started to get up, the man grabbed her by the ankle and then pulled her to him grasping her in a choke hold.

"And you’re dead!" The commander shouted. "Release."

Wilson dropped Cassi to the ground coughing. "Delaying tactics are good but you don't want to be on the floor when you have a man twice your size after you. You obviously have a preference to distance but if you don't have a weapon you are fucked. We will be working on your close combat skills. Black #2 your up!"

 Amy rolled her shoulders as her opponent stepped up, Cameron, at least that was what the Colonel had yelled. He was average height, hair shaved close to the scalp, it looked fluffy like a baby penguin. The muscles of his arms bulged beneath his uniform. A muscle-head. She let out a breath and settled into her stance, legs set wide and left leg forward.

“Begin!” the colonel shouted.

Cameron rushed her. She deflected his punch with her left hand and punched with her right. He skipped back a few paces. Amy didn't let him recover and ran forward. Cameron brought up his arms to block his face like a boxer. Amy dropped down and kicked at his legs, he jumped back. Cameron rushed her again, jabbing with both his fists in rapid succession. Amy dodged the punches and grabbed his fist as he came in for an upper-cut. She put pressure on his wrist, pushing him away and jabbed him in the side. He coughed and tried to deliver a round-house kick. He was quick.

Amy ducked down beneath his raised leg and kicked right below the knee of his stationary leg. His leg buckled and she elbowed him in the stomach. Once the young man doubled over she delivered a series of punches and elbows, as she went through her stances. The final hit was an elbow to the man's head and he fell to the ground.

The crowd was silent. Amy showed her sister a “victory sign”. The Colonel nodded.

“Alright, Black, not too bad. You left yourself open in a few places

Amy joined her sister as they watched the rest of the drills. Some guys were pretty good. Most were bad, like drunken bar fights bad. Amy shook her head, no wonder the war was left up to the alchemists. She glanced around the campsite and her eyes fell on a man that easily dwarfed all the recruits. Even though his back was to them, his identity was undeniable.

“That's who I wanna fight,” she said. Cassi followed her trail of sight and blanked.

“You want to what now?”

Amy chuckled darkly, the anticipation had her bursting with energy. What kind of game would it be without a boss fight? Out of all the men here, he was the biggest shark in the pond. Cassi pulled her by the collar.

“Are you insane? What are you trying to prove?”

“Dad always said if you want to keep people from thinking you are weak, pick the biggest guy in the room and beat him.” Her grin turned predatory, “and there's no one bigger than him.” 

As Amy and Cassi made there way to the behemoth of a man they watched him converse with Olivier. Olivier turned to them and nodded beckoning them closer. “Cassiopeia, Amalthea let me introduce you to my brother, the only son of the House of Armstrong. The Strong Arm Alchemist, Major Alex Louis Armstrong.” Olivier stated with an almost bored fashion. “My brother will be assisting me in a few of your training regimens to build up your strength and accuracy. While I have a grounded finesse my brother could only dream of when it comes to swordsmanship, I know when to bow out and say he has a tighter grasp on the art of hand to hand combat.”

“All too right my dear sister! I have successfully gathered a strong grasp on the fine art of Martial Arts, Boxing, and Wrestling. Why it is a Armstrong family tradition to have a strong grip on the fine art of Hand-to-hand combat! One must always be poised to be able to take on combatants with and without weapons!” Alex regaled as he started to go into detail on the importance of knowing one's own strength and pushing your physical limits. 

For next few hours, the younger Armstrong showed the girls how to use their surroundings to their advantage. “What is this I hold in my hands?” Alex held up a large rock in one palm. Apparently, the training required him the removal of half his uniform. 

“A rock?” Cassi replied.

“Oh, my dear friends, this could be a mere rock or an excellent improvised blunt weapon!” He further explained as he used it to crush in a head of his alchemic built assailant. 

“You both must be prepared to handle any possible scenario! Rocks, logs, even your own beautiful hair can be used as weapons against any possible combatant. However you must understand anything you can use so can your enemy. You need to think quickly and be able to find weapons as you walk into any room.”

“So we need to be able to McGyver the shit out of anything we find?” Amy asked Cassi who shrugged in response

“Who is this McGyver and why is he defecating on your possible weaponry? Alex asked in confusion.

Amy blushed as she watched her sister start to laugh to the point of rolling on the floor.  
“Its an expression meaning to be able to make anything from what others would consider useless items.”

“How crass…” Alex stated to the two before he decided to continue on with their lesson.


	4. IV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hello Readers Artemis here. Kurosawa and I would like to thank-you all for reading thus far. Just a friendly warning here about the content of this chapter. There is a reason this story is Mature.Just a reminder that we do not own FMA but we own Amy and Cassi. Thank-you and enjoy the Chapter.

IV

In the next couple of weeks, Amy and Cassi worked hard on their training with Olivier and Alex Armstrong. The two Blue bloods were highly skilled and harsh teachers, pushing both girls to their limits day and night. With the harsh training the girls grew stronger by the day much to the irritation of the male recruits. Olivier made it very clear that the girls would be the best or they should head home.

“Rise and shine recruits! Fall in!” Colonel Ryan’s voice rang through the courtyard as Amy and Cassi finished running their laps. Olivier and Alex pausing ahead of them and fell in line standing two steps behind Colonel Ryan.  

“Every one front and center!” Olivier  called out. All of the men came out of their barracks exhausted trudging their feet as Amy and Cassi stood off to the side a step.

“You heard me! Black 1 and 2, get your asses over here!” the girls hustled over and grabbed the rifles and lined up with the rest of the recruits.

“What's going on?” Amy whispered.

“No idea,” Cassi whispered back.

“Stop your belly aching!” Colonel Ryan barked and began to detail their next exercise.

Wilson grunted, “when will we see some real action?”

“We are being treated like children,” Cameron huffed.

Olivier whipped out her sword and held it inches from the men’s faces. The color drained from their cheeks as their frightened eyes stared back at them on the mirror-like surface of the blade.

“You ARE children, you haven’t been molded by war or time. You will be sent out when you are ready and we know you won’t die taking your first steps into enemy territory.” she said with a scowl. The men gulped and she sheathed her sword. Colonel Ryan nodded in appreciation and continued his explanation.

“Alright recruits. Listen up! You all will be entering a Mock enemy territory We will have 5 teams Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, and Echo! You will each follow your map and enter in on separate areas of the field. You will scout out enemy combatants, gather intel and return to your home field. You also have the secondary goal of capturing the flag of the enemy. The flag you need to capture is designated on your map. If the flag does not have your team letter do not touch it and do not sabotage the other teams. First team back is the winner and will win a one week leave to relax before heading to the front lines.” Colonel Ryan yelled out to the recruits. Turning to Cameron and wilson he eyed the two “This will be your last training mission. Do not fuck this up.”

Olivier stepped forward with a list in hand “When I call your name you will separate into your groups. Team Alpha….”Olivier then ran down her list.

Colonel Ryan, Olivier and Alex Armstrong separated everyone into their five teams. Each Team had roughly ten to twelve recruits. With everyone assigned to their groups, they were dismissed to deliberate before mission start. The girls ran after their group leader, a man by the name of Major Harrison. He looked at them in disdain, “can't believe we got stuck with the pussy willows. Alright, men,” he leered at the twins, “and girlies….” he divided the group into squads of four: three scouting groups and one to party to capture the flag.

The girls were stuck into Team Charlie and Squad 2, and had the ultimate displeasure of being paired with their sparring partners Cameron and Wilson.

“We will all meet back here in two hours with our intel are we clear. Do not get caught!” Major Harrison  stated and everyone nodded.

With the group split into their secondary squads the girls headed north with their group to gather their information.   
“O.k since we have quadrant A, let's head to the Northwest Corner and sweep from there.” Cassi stated as she looked over the map.

“Negative Southeast to Northwest. We can’t run into enemy lines blindly; if we start from our closest point and work our way to the farthest, we can locate everything and can head back safely.” Amy stated

“That won’t help if our enemy is mobile though and we don’t know if there are any alchemist out there as well.” Cassi stated looking the map over.  
“I agree with Black 1, South to North, it’s an easier sweep.” Cameron stated looking at the map pointing at the Northeast corner. Wilson nodded in agreement.

“Alright that settles it, South to North let’s move out.” Cassi said as she grabbed her gear.

For the next hour, they pinpointed enemy combatants in their sector and took stock of what weapons they had on.

“Alright that’s ten combatants mostly with rifles. No Alchemists. I say that’s good intel and we should sweep back.” Amy stated looking over their marks on their section of the map.

“We still need to sweep this street; we haven’t checked here and the last thing we need is for someone to get the jump on us.”Cassi looked down at the map as well sweeping her finger over a housing section.  
As the twins studied the map, they didn’t notice as someone crept up behind them until they grabbed the two by the back of their coats and yanked them back.

Amy and Cassi let out a yelp only to look into the eyes of Cameron and Wilson who both chuckled as the twins glared at them.

“That’s not fucking funny assholes!” Amy growled out.

“Careful, girlies, never know when you might run into a wolf out here,” Cameron chuckled darkly.

“All too right, we wouldn’t want anyone catching you off guard.” Wilson sneered. They ran off ahead leaving the sisters to seethe in anger.

“You think the friendly fire is off?” Amy trailed them with her rifle.

“Sissy, don't let them get to you,” Cassi sighed. “Come on, let's check this area.” The area they walked through was an empty residential block. The sun burned overhead, and sweat ran down their backs in waves. Most of the doorways were broken it and oozed eeriness. “Isn't it too quiet?” Cassi whispered.

Amy stopped in the middle of the street.  Wilson and Cameron were nowhere to be seen.“Maybe...they are good at recon?” her voice was shaky. Cassi fixed her with a look that she didn't believe her.

“Help!” Wilson came from around the block. His eyes were wide and there was blood on his cheek. “Help!” He waved them to follow him back down the block. He turned into an alley between two houses, even in the shade, it was a million degrees.

“What's the situation?” Amy asked. The alley extended all the way to the other street, windows with broken shutters and darkened doors decorated the walls

“Glad you two could come,” another shadow had appeared the way they had come. It was Cameron. He leveled his gun to Cassi's head. Wilson did the same to Amy. “Always loved twins,” he licked his cracked lips.

They pushed the girls back into one of the open doors. The room was dark and dusty. There were still bowls on the table, albeit with a fresh coat of fuzzy mold.

“You fucking bastards, I'll kill you.” Amy hissed. Cameron guffawed, “I think I know which one you are.” He rubbed the back of his head, “that last one hurt, here let me return the favor.” He brought his rifle down hard on her head. Amy staggered backwards and tripped on an overturned chair. Grey spots danced across her vision, and she could taste the blood in her mouth from when she bit her tongue. As Amy shook her head she could feel Cameron grab her and push her back down to the floor. As she gathered her senses she felt Cameron grab her legs. She tried to kick him but it felt she was moving her legs in water. . He had removed his jacket and tied her ankles together with it. He stood up when he was done with a lazy grin and loosened his collar in one hand, the other held a handgun.“You'd really think it'll be that easy?” Wilson said. She turned to look and saw the Cassi was in a similar position on the floor, legs tied and arms pinned above her head by Wilson. He brought his face to the crook of Cassi's neck and inhaled deeply. Cassi flinched away and he slapped her. “It's been months since we saw any women,” he griped her chin and licked the side of her face. “God must be smiling down on us today.” His handgun was pressed against Cassi's head as he began to pull down her trousers.

“Don't you fucking touch her!” Amy yelled. She struggled beneath Cameron's weight. Wilson grabbed a fistful of Cassi's hair and buried his nose in it. When she tried to cry out, he yanked her hair.

“Women should be seen not heard,” he said, breathing heavily.

 

Cameron was sitting on Amy's legs and she couldn't lift him up. He already dropped his trousers and his little soldier stood erect, she could feel it pulsing against her inner thigh. He was leaning over her, pinning her wrist in one hand and caressing her face with the muzzle of the handgun in the other.

“Be a good girl,” he said as he released her wrists. It took all her self-restraint to not lash out immediately. The black hole of the gun barrel stared down at her like the eye of Sauron. Cameron yanked down her trousers. The cool breeze on her exposed thighs sent her shivering. His fingers teased the end of her underwear.

“No!” she thrust her hands upwards towards the gun. The gun went off. Amy's ears were ringing but she kept her momentum going and smashed the heel of her hand into Cameron's nose. She felt the thin bones break. He dropped his gun as he covered the gushing mess.

“You bitch!” he cried. He lashed out blindly. Wilson was moving behind them, possibly to help his comrade. Amy grabbed the gun with shaky hands.

“Drop it!” Wilson cried. Cassi twisted her body and tripped Wilson.  She looked down at the knot that held her feet together. She reached down and pulled her shoe off. She watched Wilson try aid Cameron and line up a shot to shoot her sister. With her shoe loosened, she kicked it off and was able to separate her feet. She grabbed her boot and she chucked it at Wilson. The gun flew from his hand.

"You leave my sister alone," she growled.

"Fucking whore." Wilson stated with a spark of madness in his eyes. He got up and bull-rushed Cassi. Cassi took this as her moment to get a little physical and ducked to hit him with her whole body. He flipped over her and she started to go for the gun on the floor.

Wilson grabbed her around the legs and tripped her. With Cassi on the ground, he grabbed her by the hair.

"Think that was going to work? You really are a dumb little bitch. I'm going to love choking that neck of yours when I take you from behind." He whispered in her ear as he started to pull her up. She struggled against him but he didn't mind because he was a bigger man.

"Let’s watch your sister lose." He said as he ran his nose up the side of her neck. Unbeknownst to him Cassi had reached into her boot and grabbed a knife in her left hand.

"Just remember to Sing..." Cassie muttered

"What was that?" Wilson stated looking down at her.

"Solar plexus,"Cassie took her right elbow and rammed it into his gut.

" Instep, " With the heel of her left boot she stomped it on his foot.

"Nose," She pulled her head forward and rammed the back of her head into his face. She heard the crunch of his nose.

"Groin!" She took her right fist and punched him as hard as she could in the groin. She then tried to Rush forward again to get away but felt a fierce tug on her hair.

"You fucking bitch I'm going to kill you! I still got your hair! What are you going to do!" He yelled as he tugged her back.

Cassie closed her eyes as she took her knife and slashed off her hair. Her knife digging into Wilson’s hand along the way. Once separated, she took her knife and stabbed him in the gut.

Turning around Cassie rushed to the gun on the floor.

Cameron grabbed Amy’s arm and twisted it painfully against her back. She cried out and slammed her head backward. Cameron wailed and released her. His face was a mess of bloody, snot, and pure rage. With a beast-like snarl he charged forward again.

She watched as Cameron made a rush towards her sister and shot him in the upper back. She then heard the yell of rage from Wilson behind her and turned around in time to see him making a rush at her as well.

Cameron stumbled, his face was pulled in a grimace as he clawed at his back. Over his shoulder, Amy could see the smoking gun Cassi held.

"I'll kill you both and have fun fucking your-"

Another gunshot resounded in the small room.

Amy fired her gun. Her first shot took him in the shoulder.

"You fucking bitch-"

The second grazed his jaw. He cried out but he still kept coming towards her. Amy backed up into the table. He reached for her. She could count the freckles that dusted his cheeks. Amy emptied the rest of the clip into his chest. He collapsed on top of her, gurgling, drooling blood all over her. When he opened his mouth, he coughed and spat blood onto her face. He jerked a few times as his spirit wrestled to stay in his body.

He lost. She pushed the dead mass as far away from her as she could.

There was a resounding boom from the front room as a stone fist blasted the front door and three figures stepped in. In the front at ready was Alexander Armstrong who looked around the room. From behind him stepped out the Colonel with a gun at ready and Olivier with her sword. They took in the scene, most noticeable was the blood and discarded clothing.

"Colonel! They killed Cameron!" Wilson yelled holding his gut where the knife was planted in him.

The Colonel looked him up and down before looking at the girls

"Armstrong get the ladies out of here and make sure they are covered," he stated.

Armstrong nodded as he took off his coat and walked over to the twins. Cassi was crying and hugging Amy who pulled up her pants properly. He draped the jacket over the two and he carried them out.

"Wilson, there are two things I hate in this world: Rapists and Liars." The Colonel stated giving a stone cold glare at Wilson.

"Colonel I..." Wilson began only to be silenced by a bullet through the head. Colonel Ryan looked around the room and picked up Cassie's boot. Olivier relieved the bodies of their weaponry and ammo.

With a shake of his head, Colonel Ryan stepped out of the building. He looked over at the Armstrongs and the Blacks. The girls were surrounded by the other recruits and officers.

"Let this be a lesson to all of you!” he yelled. “I do not tolerate this kind of Cockamamy bullshit! This is war! We are not savages we are honorable men! I will not put up with common back water swill! You want a dishonorable discharge you will find it on the receiving end of my gun with a bullet in your fat skull." He stated waving his gun in the air.

"We are now a family and by the end of this training you better act like it! We protect our comrades! Our brother and our sisters! Two of our men tried to hurt your sisters in the most savage of ways! They are our men no longer! They will not be going home. They will be marked as deserters and their families can forever wonder what happened to them.” Olivier yelled out. Her hair was wild with her anger and she seemed to have a storm behind her eyes. She slashed her sword towards the building. “That is the penalty. If I even catch wind that you tried to do to any woman what those two pieces of trash tried to do to your comrades today. Are we clear?"

"Sir yes sir!" All the men shouted back

"Good. Burn it down. Let the burned remains of this building be a reminder of what will happen to you all should you forget what we told you." Colonel Ryan stated stepping away from the building Olivier steps behind him. Armstrong stood up and punched the ground and the building glowed and turned to pieces. Officers ran around and fifteen minutes later a large pyre warmed the faces of Amy and Cassie.

"Sissy... I don't think this is a game anymore."Cassie whispered leaning into her twin.

"Neither do I..." Amy replied pulling the large jacket around her closer.


	5. V

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Happy Thursday everyone! Kurosawa-san and I do not own Full Metal Alchemist but we do adore it. We do own Cassi and Amy respectively. 
> 
> Hope y'all enjoy the chapter. Watch out for any stray bullets, beware not everything is how they seem. :3

V

The Colonel ended the exercise and they all returned back to camp. A chill ran through the sisters when the other groups asked about Wilson and Cameron.

“Filthy deserters,” the Colonel spat. Nobody contradicted him. Armstrong shot them a worried glance but that was all.

“Everyone back to work!” Olivier shouted making the crowd disperse. The Colonel and Olivier retreated to their quarters, the others dispersed to their barracks. Armstrong escorted the girls to their tiny shack. His mustache twitched as he fought with words to say. Amy passed him his jacket, and muttered a quick thank you before closing the door.

Cassi walked to the restroom and winced as she looked at her hair. Her eyes twitched at the lopsided cut as she turned to look at her twin.

“My hair…” she muttered as Amy came closer and started to brush Cassi’s hair out of her face.

“It’s not too bad. Let me even it out and it won’t even bother you.” Amy stated as she went to their sewing kit and grabbed the shears. For the next 20 minutes Cassi sat on the loo while her sister cut off more of her hair to even it out. In the end her once mid back length of hair was cut to a short Pixie length.

“There you finally got that Pixie cut you wanted so much.” Amy smiled as Cassi stared at herself in the mirror and touched her hair that barely brushed her ears.

“Yea but not the way I wanted to get it.” she whispered as she hugged her twin. The two curled together on Amy’s bed not wanting to be separated after their experience.

The next morning didn't fair any better. The twins could feel their comrades eyes, heavy, leering, undressing them. Amy fought the urge to slouch, and walked rigidly through the campsite. Cassi followed her in a similar fashion trying to keep from turning to look at those who stared at the two. Most of the soldiers were seated at breakfast. Armstrong easily took the space of two men at the tables.

Cassi watched her sister pause to stare at the behemoth of a man.

“Amy…”

“Armstrong!” Amy called out. The man in question turned around, as did half of the military. Her nerve quivered, but she sucked in air and yelled, “I challenge you to a sparring match!”

The camp was silent as her words sank in, then the men erupted into gut-holding laughter. Armstrong fixed her with a pitying look.

“Amy, come on let’s leave him to his breakfast.” Cassi said tugging her sister’s arm.

“Are you sure you know what you are asking for?” he asked.

“I asked didn't I? Don't tell me you're afraid of a little thing like me, or is the Armstrong name all talk?”

Cassi shifted behind her and grabbed her shoulder. “Sis let's not tempt him, I mean let him enjoy his meal and we can just…." Cassi said trying to pull her twin away.

“I accept! An Armstrong never backs down from a challenge!” The man shot out of his seat, knocking the men on either side of him to the ground.

“Scheiße.” Cassi muttered looking at Armstrong in shock.

“Don’t worry young one I won’t hurt her. I have honor!” Armstrong stated patting Cassi on the head as both he and Amy made their way to the sparring ground.

Cassi glared at the room of soldiers before she ran out after her sister. Colonel Ryan and Olivier glanced as the three left.

“Should we stop them?” Colonel Ryan asked as he followed Olivier.

“No, they need this.” Olivier snapped as she marched out.

The men gathered around as they usually do for practice. Some exchanged bets, others looked on with bored expressions, having already decided a victor.

“Amy...” Cassi started, only to have her twin toss her uniform jacket at her.

Amy rolled up the sleeves of her white collar shirt and fell into her stance. Armstrong studied her and put up his arms.

_I'll show them. No one will ever, ever do that again._

She ran forward and jumped into the air. Armstrong blocked her kick and she back-flipped into the center of the ring. As soon as her feet hit the ground, she charged towards him. He blocked every kick and punch without moving from his spot. This only fueled the anger within her. Her attacks became sloppy as she rushed through the attacks.

After a few minutes, she was gasping for breath.

“Had enough?” he asked straightening up. “You don't need to prove anything.”

 _But I do!_ She wanted to scream. Instead, she stood there with her clenched fists shaking as she stared at the ground. Tears prickled the corners of her eyes. She couldn't fight off Cameron or Wilson. She couldn't fight Armstrong. She was weak and they all knew it.

Amy could feel Cassi's comforting presence in the back of her mind. She was sending her soothing thoughts. Amy glared up the Strong Arm Alchemist. His eyes widened as she charged yet again. He moved to block his face and torso. Amy increased her speed and slid beneath his legs.

The man moved to turn. Amy had thrown herself to the ground and pushed up with her hands to deliver a kick to his exposed neck. Armstrong tumbled backwards into the sand. Amy stood above him, panting.

“Had enough, Armstrong?”

The red mark of her boot on his lower jaw stood out on his pale skin. Gingerly, he reached up a hand to his jaw, his face was in shock, as were the soldiers.

“Well it seems the student has overcome the teacher.” Olivier stated as she gave a half smirk to Colonel Ryan.

“She caught him by surprise you can be sure that will not happen again.” Colonel Ryan stated as his blue eyes flashed with a promise as he turned to the rest of the crowd.

“If you all have time to stand around, you have time for another drill!”

The men snapped to attention and rushed off to get their gear. The Colonel fixed the three in the ring with another stare, “you three as well,” he said and walked off.

\---

Gunshots rang overhead, the bullets pierced through the half collapsed wall they were hiding behind.

“There's too many!” someone cried.

“Where did they come from?” another yelled. A bullet whizzed pass and took him in the neck. The blood gushed out and he fell twitching to the ground.

“Dear Lord.” Kent whimpered.

The faces of the men blanched. Amy ducked lower to the ground so she was almost laying down.

“I wish we could set the difficulty to this,” she said to Cassi.

"Difficulty? What fucking Difficulty! There was no difficulty option to choose." Cassi growled out as she ducked when she heard more rapid fire.

“I'll send word to the Colonel, maybe he'll send us reinforcements.” Cooper, a young boy from the West said. He had the look of a twelve year old with his round face and big eyes. It didn't help that he just brushed five feet.

There was a lull in the fire and he turned to run. He covered about fifteen yards when he was shot down. The bullets tore through his body. He lay on the ground coughing up blood, he was still trying to crawl his way to camp.

Out of all of them, he took the longest to die.

They began their routine drill with ten; four were left, Cassi, Amy, Kent, and Johnson.

Johnson was the oldest of the four at 28. His father wanted him to be a lawyer, obviously they disagreed. He didn't look like the lawyer-ing type with his big build, small set eyes, and obviously lack of vocabulary over three syllables. Kent on the other hand descended from a family of military elites, like the Armstrongs, and he acted the part too, until the ambush began.

Well, who could have been ready for this?

They should have known it was dangerous to turn down the narrow street but Johnson had fell back and stated he heard something down that alley. They should have known, but they did it anyway and now six young men were dead. The two men in the front of the group, Amy didn't even know their names, protected the others from the first wave of bullets.

Evans took a hit in the shoulder. He was fine...for awhile. Cassi patched him up but nothing could patch up a bullet to the skull that came later. The Ishvalans had a machine gun. They ripped apart poor Evans' head.

Evans' best friend, a guy called Taylor, jumped from cover and ran, gun blazing, towards the enemy. Thanks to him, they now knew there was a sniper. Luckily, Cassi got in a shot and the tanned man toppled head first into the street below. Amy gripped her gun to her chest. They were like fish in a [ barrel ](http://www.homedepot.com/p/Unbranded-Western-Red-Cedar-Large-Barrel-LB17841/203424625); they couldn't retreat, as soon as they left the cover of the wall, they would be shot down. This was a back road, so there were no doors or windows to enter. They could go out like Taylor. She shook her head, feeling real terror course through her.

“If we live through this...I'm going to kill mom,” she said.

Cassi growled as she listened for the sound of the rapid fire again and waited for the pause before she sent out a blind shot that was responded with a yell.

"If you are going to kill mom, I'm going to destroy the fucking machine!" she yelled to her twin as she waited for the pause and miraculously shot another gunman reducing their enemy.

Kent was crouched low trying to figure out how they were going to get out of this mess and Johnson peeked around the corner before he looked at the twins and Kent. "We are sitting ducks there has to be a way to get out of here."

Kent looked up at him,  "We are going to die out here!"

Cassi rushed over to him and slapped him in the face "No, we fucking are not! Pull your head out of your ass and use that fucking brain of yours!" she yelled as she looked up and down the alley they were in.

Kent glared at her and grabbed her collar."Do you know alchemy cause I sure as hell don’t!" he shouted. “That’s the only way I see us getting out of this alive!”

Amy looked at Kent with a stern look before turning to her sister. “Is there any other idea?”

Johnson looked down at the twins "We got into this alley, we can try to back out the way we came in. Kent and I can cover the front and you cover the rear." he stated as he pulled Kent to his side.

Cassi turned to her sister “That won't work unless we can surprise the enemy long enough for us to make a break for it.”

“We can always try to make a wall to get out of here?”

“Oh and how the fuck are we going to make a wall with what we got?” Kent said snarkily “Do you plan to make a wall out of our dead comrades?”

Cassi looked over at Kent then turned to her sister. “Kent, you’re a genious.”

“I know...wait a second what do you mean by that! Are you going to make a wall? Black there’s not enough bodies and meat shields won’t mean shit with the machine gun they have!”

“Alchemy…” Cassi stated as she dipped her fingers in the blood of her comrades.

“Alchemy?!” Kent yelled “Woman, do you even know how to do Alchemy?”

“Nope. But I’m going to try.”

Amy caught her idea took some blood and started to crudely draw the only alchemic circle she could vividly remember off the top of her head. She started off with a circle of blood by the base of her middle finger and then intersected a larger circle through it; it took up her whole hand. In the large circle she followed with a slightly smaller following close to the larger but not touching. She then drew out five triangles, four large ones surrounding one smaller in the center. Two of the larger triangles pointed south while the ones under pointed north. The four touching created a diamond in the middle where the smaller triangle rested. The smaller circle had its point facing south. Amy finished off her array with two lines through the large bottom triangles. Flecks of blood splatter landing under the smaller triangle like drops of snow.

“What is that array for?” Johnson asked looking at it curiously.

“It’s about to get really hot in here.” Amy stated darkly looking to her sister.

“So take off all your clothes.” Cassi snickered.

“I don’t think now’s the best time!” Johnson called back as bullets flew over his head.

Cassi glared at the ground as she used the blood of her comrade to draw out a large triangle the point facing north on the ground. She then drew two circles intersecting through it; a larger circle with a smaller circle inside it. At each flat face of the triangle she drew triangles facing out of the circle  and finished it with lines through each of the three smaller triangles.

“I got the wall.” Cassi stated looking to her twin.

“I got the fire power. As soon as Cassi activates the array we need to book it.” Amy said.

Cassi rubbed her hands together before clapping her hands and placing them on the edge of her array. The array glowed blue and a small smile slipped onto her face as the ground shot up creating a wall. Kent and Johnson let out a ‘whoop’ of triumph. They could hear the Ishvalans yelling and then the machine gun sprayed the wall.

Cassi looked at the sandy wall in worry turning to Kent and Johnson. “We have only a few moments I don’t know how long that will hold.

“Well throw up another then!” Kent yelled as Amy stood at ready  to snap her fingers.

Cassi nodded as she drew the array again and activated a second wall behind the first.

“That will buy us some time but we should stop wasting it and start backing out.” Johnson stated as he readied his gun

The Twins and their comrades sprinted down the alley, they made it a quarter way through when Cassi’s walls shattered. The twins had enough time to press themselves against the perpendicular walls of the alley. Kent yelled at them from his and Johnson’s hiding spot across from them.

“You call that a wall?”

“I’m sure she tried her best,” Johnson shouted over the roar of the gun.

The firing stopped as the Ishvalans began to reload. Amy stepped out of her hiding place.

“Say ‘ello to my little friend!” She held out the hand with the painted array and snapped. The array glowed blue, similar to Cassi’s but fire didn’t shoot out of her palm. Instead a giant icicle sailed towards the Ishvalans. They ducked, briefly abandoning their guns.

“Run!” she shouted and grabbed her sister’s hand. Cassi grabbed Kent and Johnson’s forearm.

"All is one," Cassi said.

Johnson nodded, "One is all."

Amy looked between the two in shock "What..."

"Now is not the time." Cassi stated as she pulled her sister down the alley and they got their guns ready. Johnson and Kent kept up a steady fire as they slowly started making their way backwards. Amy and Cassi kept their eyes out for movements and shot at anything that moved. Their plan kept up until Kent gave out a yell of pain.

He collapsed to the ground as red blossomed on his chest. Johnson looked to his Comrade in shock before he looked at Amy and Cassi. "Run!" He turned to the approaching fire and took hold of Kent's gun. Not needing to be told twice the twins got up and booked it down the rest of the alley and took a sharp left running back from where they came. Shots followed them.

"To whatever fucking Deity watching out for us get us the fuck out of here safely!" Cassi shouted to the heavens as she dragged her sister down a separate alley. It wasn't until the gunfire was far in the distance that  they stopped to breathe. In front of them were several tents of white.

They fell to the ground gasping and crying tears of pain and relief.

"Med....MEDIC!" A voice shouted before two blonds rushed out. They looked around, ran towards the Ishvalans who called for help.

"R...Rockbell?" Cassi asked dazed.


	6. VI

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As always we don’t own FMA My CoWriter and I are still trying to figure out how to make them ours but we just can’t afford them yet. Sorry for being a week late Classes and Life. As always we love you our viewers you make us continue on with our work. Please Like, Kudo, Subscribe, and leave a comment. See you all next week.

VI

The couple, with blood smeared on their clothes, helped the Ishvalan man carrying his comrade. The wounded man was limping, blood soaked his pant leg, and his arm dangled at his side. The Rockbells hurried him into the tent while a lone man outside openly glared at the twins. He dragged his thumb across his neck and headed into the tent to follow his comrade. 

“Cassi,” Amy tugged on her uniform, “we should head back.”

“You two!” a young woman shouted from the tent. She waved them over and when the girls hesitated, she ran towards them. The stethoscope looped over her neck bounced against her chest. She knelt beside them, “where does it hurt?” she asked Amy.

Amy shook her head and stood up. “We're...um fine Miss.” Mrs. Rockbell smiled and checked Cassi. Besides minor scrapes and bruises, the girls were fine.  
Mrs. Rockbell brushed the girls’ hair out of their faces as she smiled at them both. “It is nice to be wrong every once and awhile. You two look so young. I see that both sides have taken to recruiting children,” she admonished.

Cassi and Amy shared a look for a moment as they looked at the woman they knew little to nothing about.  
“Oh dear me, where are my manners? I’m Sara Rockbell, volunteer Medic for this war.” she said as she held out her hand to them.  
“Amalthea Black.”

“Cassiopeia Black.”  
“Very traditional names.” Sara stated as she rubbed her stomach for a moment

“Our mother said she came up with our names to honor an old family tradition.” Cassi stated with a smile.  
“Are...are you expecting?” Amy asked looking at her in worry  
“It’s not confirmed yet, but it is possible. I have a little girl, Winry, at home and she has begged me for a little brother or sister just like her best friend, Edward.”

“Sarah!” her husband called from inside the tent.

“Oh! Got to get back to work,” she said but stopped as she was going to turn away. “You should try to get out of this when you can,” her face broke out in a smile, “you two are lovely girls, wouldn't you want to be having fun instead of being here?” With that said, she ran back into the large white tent.

The sisters backtracked their way to camp. Amy didn't realize how tense they were until they arrived. Immediately, they sought out Colonel Ryan to detail the events of the ambush. Olivier was at his side as he relayed orders to a small unit of men. He glanced up at they approached and his eyes narrowed. He hushed a soldier that was speaking to him and motioned for the Blacks to come closer. "Alright you two. Report." Colonel stated looking between the two.

“Where is the rest of the unit?” Olivier asked as she started to fuss over the twins noting their minor injuries.

“Just minor flesh wounds” Amy stated to Olivier.

"We were ambushed." Cassi said as she stared straight ahead to the Colonel.

"Ambushed? How so?" he asked.

"They seem to have been given a tip that we were coming that way. They caught us in between quadrant 4 and 6. The alley before the plaza.” Cassie relayed as the Colonel's eyes hardened. 

“A mole.” Olivier said as she turned to the Colonel 

“Or someone is canoodling with the enemy. I want our base on lockdown. Military personnel only. We will also have a briefing on the importance of keeping a tight lip and the dangers of prostitutes.”

“Noted.” Olivier stated as she turned to look at the men who looked annoyed over the change of routine.

“We lost Pults and West first. They were first in the marching order. They were both shot in the head. That’s what told us to take cover. Evan's was the third casualty. Shot in the shoulder then his head.” Amy relayed as she turned to the Colonel who nodded over the information. Alex Armstrong slammed his fist into the ground and a three dimensional map rose from the ground. Olivier studied the map and pointed out the girls’ last  position.

“Frontal attack, area advantage, and possible higher ground.” Olivier commented looking at the model before them. Amy and Cassi pointing out where their comrades had fallen. 

“Rogers tried to cover for Evans and died in the process. Taylor was next. He jumped from cover and tried to get his revenge. His death revealed the Sniper and we were able to kill him. Cooper tried to run for reinforcements and they caught him in the back. Gates was shot in the neck.We lost Johnson and Kent during the retreat," Cassi stated sadly. 

"Someone must have tipped off on our patrols. We are going to have to do a full investigation on all who were involved.” Olivier said to Colonel Ryan.  
“It’s too premeditated I have to agree.”  
A voice cried out, “Bullshit!” 

They turned to see Whitman pointing an accusing finger at the twins. “You two ran scared while our brothers were slaughtered out there.” The ears of nearby soldier's perked up. They nodded in agreement.

“You weren't there!” Amy shouted back. If it weren't for Cassi's hand on her arm she would have socked Whitman's ugly mug.

“How convenient that when you two are involved men wind up dead!” Whitman yelled back. 

Amy couldn't think of a retort. Whitman was there that day with Cameron and Wilson. He knew what they tried to do, why they died, but this was different.

The Colonel cleared his throat. “Whitman, shut your mouth. This is war, people will die; men and women will die.” He glared at the unit of men. Whitman glared back but shuffled back into the group. 

“Alright, you have your orders move out!” Olivier shouted and the men ran towards the field. She turned to Cassi and Amy, “you still have your training. Go!” The sisters scrambled to begin their run. They slipped the rifles over their heads and as they ran the guns slapped their backs, like a mother with a heavy hand disciplining a child. They went to bed that evening without an supper, not because of exhaustion but to shield themselves from accusing eyes.

\---

Amy wished she had a calendar to mark the days as they passed. It was difficult to discern one day from the next, or even the day before. It was the same routine: wake up, eat, complete the mission, eat, sleep, repeat with Olivier’s training from hell sprinkled on top with the occasional nut of alchemy from her brother Alex.   
After Alex heard them discussing alchemy, and their poor attempts at recreating their fluke in the alley, he had to ‘assist’ them.

“Comrades! You both must let me teach you. Your attempt at a defense was admirable in a time of need but your method was lacking.”  
The sisters looked to the sparkling behemoth and clearly read the hidden remark, ‘Your attempt was shit.’  
“Alex, we did what we could with what little we knew.”Amy sighed  
“And that is why I wish to expand your knowledge with the holy grail which is my teachings.” Alex said spinning and flexing his muscles

“Well no one would ever call the Armstrong family humble.” Cassi muttered 

“We have no reason to be, we are the best. Feel proud we wish to take you under our wings and bring you into the fold.” Olivier smirked overhearing the comment. Amy and Cassi jumped in shock and turned to see their drill sergeant with a fiery gleam in her eye.

“Brother the will take up Alchemy lessons with you at your discretion. Good day sisters.” Olivier smiled as she did an about-face and marched off leaving the twins shivering in her icy fury.   
Amy was sitting down at lunch, Armstrong to her left and Cassi to her right. Armstrong transmuted an earthen awning to shield them from them from the harsh sunlight. Over the last...months? Year? It didn't matter, but the girls had come to depend on him, the large intimidating teddy bear that he was. Faces, new and old, came and went in waves. Like Colonel Ryan said, it was war. Amy didn't even bother to remember anyone's name anymore. At least within Armstrong's presence, the men kept their distance.

“Why is it that when we take down one of those idiots, two more pop up,” a soldier sighed. He was a small guy with spiky black hair. He sat at the next table over with a large bull like man with grey hair. Amy vaguely remembered them as the followers of Greed, but couldn't place their names.

“It's because of the Rockbells,” Amy said. The men looked over at them.

“The what?” asked the spiky haired man. 

“They're the medics,” Cassi explained, “they treat everyone, us and the Ishvalans.”

The larger man nodded, “yes, I've heard of them. A couple of humanitarians.”

“Just great,” the first man said, “we shoot 'em and they patch 'em up. It's a never-ending cycle. This war will go on forever.”

“Well someone should just take care of that, hmm.” The man who spoke had long, dark hair pulled into a ponytail and a wicked grin.

“Buzz off, Kimblee,” Amy said. Being near the guy freaked her out. He tilted his head and smiled.

“As milady wishes,” he said with a smirk and strolled off.

They girls finished their meal, said goodbye to Armstrong, Roa and Dolcetto (they finally got around to introductions), and made their way to Colonel Ryan's office for a debrief. 

The Colonel was studying some files when the girls walked to his tent. “Reporting for duty, sir!” they recited in unison. They had snapped into a salute and he waved them closer. 

“Black 1 and 2, good.” He replaced the file in his hand to a growing stack on the floor. Besides this was a large burlap sack with the words MAIL printed in bold black letters. Another bag sat besides this one, it was twice as big as the mail bag. 

“I was going over your files and came across a small anomaly," he said. He slid two folders that were on the corner of his desk in front of him. The manila folders had their names printed on the flaps.

"Sir?" Cassi asked, shifting nervously. She took a quick look to her twin; they both eyed each other in concern.

"Yes, an anomaly; when was the last time you two have gone on leave." The colonel stated as he showed them their files. "You have both been here for almost three years and have not logged your leave. That can be cause for reprimand." The colonel said.

"We haven't... been on leave sir." Cassi said slowly.

"You... you’re joking." he stated.

"No sir. We were never told we should go on leave. It’s war time." Amy replied.

"Three years? Has it really been that long?"Cassi asked, when realization hit her.. "Wait we missed three birthdays? I'm 19!" she looked over at her sister in shock who seemed frozen in the same realization.

"You two have not been keeping track of the dates, have you? Why hasn’t the Lt. Colonel or Major Armstrong kept you up to date on leave?” Ryan asked eyeing the two with concern.   
Amy and Cassi looked to each other in confusion.

“We always assumed when they were away, they had a mission.” Amy said as Cassi nodded in confirmation.  
“I see. Well then Happy belated birthdays. For your celebration I would like you to do one thing. Go. Home."

"Sir?"

"You heard me Git, Scat, Go Home. You two are some of my hardest working soldiers and you have risen up the ranks quickly as is seen by your Sergeant rankings." Colonel Ryan continued.

"Leave. Pack. You are going home in one month. Until then you are off the front lines. You are both going to take three years worth of leave. That’s nine months you need to take. We will have you both work three months on and off ‘til you get the proper relaxation you deserve. I will not have the both of you get gun happy on me and go clinically mad."

The girls stared at him slack-jawed. 

“You'll be reporting to the your nursing stations as of today and for the rest of the month,” Colonel Ryan handed them a short form and shooed them away before they could complain.

Amy stared at her sister outside the tent. “We don't have anywhere to go!” she hissed. Cassi pulled her further from the tent and towards their shack. 

“Well, we'll just have to wing it. We said we were from Resembool, so that's where they'll leave us.”

“So what? We just hold up there from three months?”

Cassi shrugged “Buy a house, build a house, pitch a tent. We will figure it out. We always do.”

They changed into their nursing uniforms, a plain navy blue dress that ended just below their knees with a white apron. Amy struggled with the little white cap and finally chucked it at her bed.

“This is bull, we should be out there,” she complained.

“What do you want us to do? Disobey the Colonel's orders?” 

“No,” Amy mumbled and put on her cap.

\---

Maes Hughes stepped out of the truck and stretched his back. “Man, I'm never going to get used to riding in those.” He turned to his friend, Roy Mustang, who had his nose tucked into another strategy manual.

“Roy, you're going to tire your eyes. Relax a little, won't you?” He slapped the man on the back which knocked the book out of Roy's hands.

“Hughes,” he said as he dusted his manual, “if you haven't noticed we are at war, no time to relax.”

Maes gave his friend a sly smirk and dragged him off despite his protests.

“Where are we going?” Roy demanded.

“The oasis of any desert.” 

They stopped in front of the medical building which used to be a town hall or something but now held the flag of Ametris and a dull red cross on the front.

“Huh?” Roy stared at the building in confusion and let Maes pull him inside. The hall was converted into a medbay with cots lining the walls and all the desks and office supplies shoved to the back of the building.

Immediately, Maes locked his golden eyes on a nurse to his left who was gathering IV bags in a small cart and checking something off on a clipboard.

“Watch and learn, Roy-boy.”

“Maes,” Roy sighed as the man gave him a thumbs up and strolled up to the nurse.

“Hey, sweetie, do you think you can check my temperature. I think I may be coming down with something.” he said with a shy smile. “I'm Maes Hughes, by the way, just shipped out this morning.” 

Cassi turned around and rolled her eyes. “Oh you poor thing come in and we will look you over. Dehydration is such a horrible thing in this here parts. Here, now you boys sit down here and I will check your temperature.” Cassi walked away and returned with a glass of water and two thermometers. As the two put the thermometers in their mouths, she noticed Maes wiggle his brow at Roy before she checked her their thermometers. 

“Well Mr. Mustang your temperature is alright. Though from the slight red in your face I would suggest you drink plenty of water.” Turning to Maes, Cassi looked at his temperature. “Oh dear Mr. Hughs you seem to be running a fever we will have to get you emitted right away. You may even need to be quarantined. Yellow fever and all that.” she said and Maes' face turned pasty.

“Oh no that alright. I’m healthy as a horse, no need for that,” he laughed nervously.

“Oh no I insist! We caught your sickness early enough there should be enough time to treat it. I have just the cure for it too.”

“Oh no I’m fine honest no need for medicine or wasted resources on little ol' me.”

“No no it must be done.” she stated. Maes looked to Roy when Cassi took the glass from roy and dumped the glass of water on Maes. “All better now. See you cooled off right quick.” 

Roy stared disbelievingly as the nurse calmly took her cart and walked away. 

“To be honest...I sort of deserved that,” Maes chuckled and wiped off his glasses. His eyes trailed after the nurse, and his lips quirked up into a smile.

“Unsanitary,” Roy pulled a notebook from his back pocket. “Disregard of military personnel,” he dictated. He replaced the notebook, “come on, we need to get her name and practicing I.D.”

\---

The first few hours of duty were filled with changing bandages and helping some of the more wounded soldiers to eat. One soldier was missing both his arms, both stopped right above where his elbows should have been. Grenade. 

He sat staring at the walls in silence. Amy remembered him from last month when she served. Although pale from the blood loss, he was of a healthy weight. He wouldn't eat, the other nurses said in hushed tones. Miranda pushed Amy towards him with a tray of mashed potatoes, dry bread, corn, and a little paper cup of orange juice. 

The soldier, David Beckett, ignored her as she sat beside him. She tried small talk but his thin face was set in a frown. His blue eyes had begun to shrink back into his skull. Amy brought up a spoon full of potatoes and corn to his mouth, but his lips were firmly sealed.

“Oi, you have to eat, do you wanna die?” she asked him. He blinked and turned to face her. She swore his neck creaked when he moved.

“Yes.” the word came out like a sigh. His eyes bore through her. Strong “Yes.”

When he opened his mouth again, she shoved in the spoon. He coughed and most of the food fell unto his thin sheet. 

“No.” he coughed.

“No?” Amy held the man down and forced fed him, holding his nose so he would be forced to swallow. “Listen soldier, you got two options, either die by suffocation or eat the damn food. You talk the talk but when push comes to shove, you really don't wanna die.”

“So is this how they let the nurses treat the wounded?” 

Amy turned around and nearly dropped the spoon in her hand. Standing behind her with an enormous frown on his face was Roy Mustang. His hair was cropped shorter than what she was used to, and his eyes angrier.

“I suggest you let him go,” he growled out. 

“Or what?” she said and shoved more food into Beckett's mouth. The man swallowed and panted heavily. His stomach grumbled.

"Mr. Mustang step away from my sister and her patient." Cassi stated as she walked up to him. 

"Terror Twins I see. Terrorizing the patients and disrespecting Military personnel. I can have you two thrown in the brig. 

"Mr. Mustang I would like to see you try." Cassi stated with a stone cold stare. "I'm not sure if you noticed but this man is injured severely and malnourished. He doesn't want to eat. Do you want to know what that means? It means he could die. Our job is to make sure he doesn't. I'm sure you realize this is war." she stated as she poked Mustang in the chest.

"This is a hospital, nurse and you are supposed to provide a certain amount of care and decorum!" before he could finish Cassi grabbed him by the front of the uniform to a curtained off room. 

Inside the room were men in various levels of injury several men were being held down by nurses so they can be treated or were strapped down by doctors. "This, Mustang, is War. There is no time to coddle; it’s treat and then continue to the next guy. More than half of these men are not going home alive. So tell me again how my sister and I are not doing our jobs." she stated and dragged him out from the curtained room. 

"If you want to tell me how to do my job go right ahead. You are more than welcome to join me, we have spare nurse gowns in the closet. I'm sure a dress will fit you since you are being such a Drama Queen. But please if you have a problem go see the Commander of the base Colonel Ryan. Welcome to the Ishvalan War. Goodbye." Cassi said with a sarcastic smirk as she pushed both men from the Med Bay.


	7. VII

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It need not be said that we don’t own FMA or the characters My CoWriter and I do work hard to keep the characters true. As always we love you our viewers and hope you are pleased with our hard efforts. Please Like, Kudo, Subscribe, and leave a comment. See you all next week.

VII

“Well I’ll be..” Maes Hughes muttered turning from the Med Bay to see Mustang stomping away.  
“Roy! Hey where's the fire?” 

“Where's the.. Do you hear yourself? I’m going to find this Colonel and tell him about the blatant insubordination of his nursing staff.” Roy Mustang growled out as he pocketed his notebook.  
“Roy. you gotta learn to pick your battles. They are well within their rights to kick us out of the Med Bay. We were just in the way.” Maes commented watching his friend tromp away and sighed “Oh boy…”

Olivier turned to Colonel Ryan as they went through several files.   

“Dawson, Gabriel?”

“Deceased,” he said.

“Grant, Rupert?”

“Deceased”

“Sanderson, Hugo”

“Deceased.”

With each call, the deceased the files were placed into a box to be shipped off to central to be filed and put away. Colonel Ryan  would check off a box on his forms. Next to him was a growing pile of black letters he would need to ship off. 

With a sigh, Colonel Ryan leaned back and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Olivier.”

“Sir?”

“When do you think this war will be over?”

“I don’t know sir.”

“I feel that with every Ishvalan lunatic we kill we lose five of our men in the process.”he lifted a black letter with a dark look and then turned to the burlap sack next to him that was almost filled to the brim. 

“What would be your suggestion Colonel?”

“I’ve been avoiding this but the higher brass is twisting my arm here.” Colonel Ryan pulled out a letter from his higher ups and pushed it over to Olivier and watched her read it.   
“This… They can’t be serious.”

“They will be sending in State designated Alchemists soon. A special team that they will be given an enhancement stone to raise their alchemic ability. There's nothing I can do to prevent it.”

“But that’s genocide! We would be wiping out an entire race of people!”

“It’s not like I can give into their demands! They want one of our soldier’s head on a pike and I couldn’t produce him even if I wanted to. With all the deaths on both sides that man is probably long dead anyway.”

“So we are just going to go in and wipe them all out every man,, woman and child.” 

He stared at her and his face was grim, “we have our orders.”

From outside the tent a voice called out, “Major Roy Mustang requesting to speak to the officer in charge.”

Olivier gave the letter a disgusted look then stood up.

“Olivier…” Colonel Ryan said, his voice was weary.

“I’m an Armstrong, sir. No worries, I know how to follow orders.” Her cool mask fell into place, chilling Colonel Ryan how easily she could do it. “I’ll send in the grunt.” The tent flap swished behind her. The man outside the tent stood at parade rest.

“At ease,” she commanded. “The Colonel will see you now.”

“Thank you ma’am,” he snapped out of parade rest and marched into the tent with a precision that the grunts here needed.

Roy Mustang presented himself to the Colonel and recounted the misconduct of the nurses. Colonel Ryan waved his hand as if to say let it go.

“Sir?”

“You’re new here kid, but we trust our nursing staff to do their jobs as all of Ametris expects us to do ours.”

“But they disrespected an officer --”

Colonel Ryan cut him off, “let it go, Major. The enemies are not within this camp, you are dismissed.” The Colonel expected the young man to start firing away again but he didn’t, just saluted and turned on his heels.

Maes was waiting for him outside the tent, chatting it up with some of the other soldiers. When he saw Roy exit the tent, he bid goodbye and jogged over.

“From the look of utter defeat, I saw it didn’t go so well?”

“Not at all, but I can’t just ignore this --” Roy stopped when he glanced at Maes. “Maes, your face…” 

Maes chuckled and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. His left eye was swelling and colored a blue that was slowly turning to purple. His cheek was a dull red as if burned and had a suspicious imprint of a fist. Roy gapped at the man’s appearance. Maes shrugged.

“There was a blonde beauty that left the tent…”

“She was a lieutenant Colonel Hughes,” Roy said in utter disbelief. “You can’t proposition an officer of the Military!”

“People called her the Ice Queen, I needed to see if she fit the name.” he pointed to his face, “let’s just say the name was right on the nose. But hey! Look on the bright side, I can go see our lovely nurses,” he chuckled as he looped his arm over Roy’s shoulder.

Roy shook his head and sighed, “really, what am I going to do with you?”

“Nothing, that’s what the lovely angels are for. Our special angels of the desert, our sweet reprieve.” Hughes said happily, almost dancing, as he started to coo over the image of the nurses in his mind.

“Are you sure you cleared your psych eval?”

“With flying colors,” he said with a mock salute heading to the Med bay for the second time that day. He gave Roy a thumbs up at the Med bay doors to which the Major sighed and marched towards the officer’s quarters. Hughes kept the smile plastered on this face until his friend was out of sight. He adjusted his glasses, which thankfully did not crack under the Ice Queen’s battery, and a wave of seriousness washed over him; this man seemed older, wiser. Hughes pushed open the doors. A nurse looked up as he walked in, but she wasn’t the one he wanted. The bright smile he gave her was contagious and she readily answered his question. She pointed to the right side of the building that housed the staircase. He thanked her and once he turned his back on her, the smile slipped from his face. No one intercepted his path and soon he was on the second landing. The hall was narrow and the length of it held doors on either side. The doors had small windows which Hughes used to peer inside. Two-thirds down the hall, he paused as he heard voices. He leaned against the wall casually and pulled a packet of cigarettes from his pocket. He placed the cancer stick in his mouth and replaced the carton into his pocket. The voices were of the twin nurses, they were speaking in hushed tones. 

“We can stop this!” one hissed. “We can save them.”

“No, no,” the other said. “We can’t risk it.”

“We already know the time and the place --”

“We didn’t come to change things.”

“Then what is the point of being here?”

The voices grew slightly louder as the argument continued. Hughes rolled the cigarette in his mouth, sucking in the bitterness. His eyes narrowed, maybe Roy had been on to something with the “Terror Twins”, but could they really be so obvious.

“What about Mustang?”

His ears perked up.

The other sister sighed, “what about him? He’s douchier than what I remembered, but harmless.”

“Not what I meant,” one replied. “I’m talking about…” the voice was drowned by the shriek of old bed springs. 

“You said we weren’t here to change things,” came the haughty comment. Her sister gave a grunt of frustration and paced around the room. 

“How about this,” she said, “we’ll continue as we have been and if we see an opening to intervene…”

“Alright.”

“Come, our break is almost up.” Footsteps fell closer and Hughes slid towards the nearest door. He slipped inside just as their door opened. They passed by, chatting aimlessly about their patients. The voices disappeared down the stairs and Hughes pulled out his lighter. The room he was in was devoid of humans, just full of old junk and furniture that was pushed to one side of the room. The windows were dirty and little light entered the room. There were a few cots, possibly where the nursing staff stayed. He lit his cigarette and mulled over the words of the twins. Circumstantial at best, paranoid at the worst, he needed information and if Hughes was good at one thing, it was making people talk. He took a deep drag from his cigarette. It would be best to question the girls separate, as they are doing their rounds? Perhaps, to break the ice, God knows that his first meeting with the nurse hadn’t gone so well. He chuckled at the memory of the frozen water and his own surprise. Not to say his charm was infallible but he was pretty darn good. 

“Wait a minute,” he muttered as he drew the old memory back.

_ “Well Mr. Mustang your temperature is alright. Though from the slight red in your face I would suggest you drink plenty of water.” _

“He never gave her his name.” Hughes crushed out his cigarette although it was barely half way. As he marched down the stairs, the smiling mask was back on.

Now on the main floor, he walked towards the front. Before he made it to the doors, he  stopped before he ran into Nurse Cassi.   
“Mr. Hughes, I would hope you now have a reason to be here.” she stated as she looked towards the man. She brushed her bangs away from her eyes as she glared at the man. He pulled out another cigarette slowly and let it hang loosely between his lips. He smirked inwardly when her eyes fell upon his lips. She pulled her eyes back up to his, staring at his injured eye.  
“Well, my Beautiful Desert Flower, you see I was acquainted with the fist of a lovely Snow Goddess and now here I am,” he grinned, pointing to his black eye.  
Cassi’s eye twitched for a moment before she bit her lip to keep from erupting into peals of laughter. “Please tell me you actually called her that. Please.” Cassi said letting loose a nasal laugh from keeping her mouth closed. Her eyes glittered in amusement as she pulled him over to a chair so she could examine his face. Hughes pulled his cigarette out of his mouth as Cassi got close to his face to look it over.

“Well I am a man of many compliments and she is amazingly stunning. A true sight to behold really. Personality of a block of ice though. Now I see why many refer to her as the Ice Queen,” he commented with a wince as Cassi prodded at the redness on his face. At her questioning glance, he chuckled, “she has a hell of a right hook.”   
“Well good news you don’t have a broken cheek bone,” she laughed as she moved to the side to gather some antiseptic and cool rag.  
“Oh I’m sure that wasn’t a real concern.” he stated as he blew some smoke to the side. He watched Cassi return with shaking shoulders as she tried really hard to keep from laughing in his face.

“I take it that either I’m wrong or you are still under the effects of a laughing spell.” Maes said as Cassi took a few breaths to gain her composure.  
“Oh boy. That was a good laugh. Do not mess with Olivier Armstrong. There is a reason she is a commanding officer. She does not play games and she has no problem breaking limbs. She uses a sword instead of a gun and would have no problem gutting you where you stand.” Cassi warned as she calmed down from her silent snickering. Cassi started to calmly apply the antiseptic around his eye and on the burn.

“Well now all that?” Hughes commented his face lost a bit of color.  
“And a bag of chips.” Cassi winked as she smiled as she placed the cool rag on his eye. “Now you are going to want to keep reapplying the cool cloth for the next day or so to keep the swelling down. Also for the sake of your safety I would also recommend not upsetting Olivier Armstrong. I don’t want to catch you in here again today.” 

“As Milady wishes.” Maes Hughes nodded as he got up to leave.

“Also Mr.Hughes...” Cassi said watching him turn to look at her. His eyes widened a fraction as she slowly walked closer to him. He watched her face as she leaned closer her height rising as she rose onto the balls of her feet. Her face, her eyes staring into his. He made an audible gulp as her hand caressed the side of his face for a moment.   
“There’s no smoking in the med bay.” she whispered as she stole his cigarette and then quickly moved away from him dropped the offending item into a bowl of water. “Bye bye now. I’m sure you can see yourself out.”

“Succubus...evil temptress.” Hughes muttered as he left the med bay not noticing Amy coming close to stand next to her twin as the door closed.  
“Do you think he knows anything?”

“No but he does suspect something.” Cassi said as she started to clean up the station

“We will need to be more careful. One small slip and the entire timeline is fucked.” Amy commented.

“I am careful.”

“I never said you weren’t. But was that little display entirely unnecessary.”

"Well he's not married."

"He's spoken for."

"Not yet he isn't."

"What about Gracia?"

"Who?" Cassi shrugged. "She is not a problem and I'm not getting in her way because they have not even met."

"He has a kid."

"She is not even a thought right now."

"Home wrecker."

"Can't wreck it if there is no home to wreck."

Amy punched Cassi on the arm, “Semantics, you knew what I meant.”

Cassi rubbed her arm, her eyes wandered over to the door. Maes was standing in the heat of the day which caused his amber eyes to look like molten gold. She quickly diverted her gaze from his intense stare, her heart suddenly drumming in her chest. When she peeked at the door, he was gone, leaving only the sand beaten buildings of Ishval to stare back at her. 

A hand clamped over her shoulder and she jumped. Cassi turned to the cheshire-grin of a nurse whose name she couldn’t place. Her black hair was tied back into a tight bun and her eyes were a light brown. A handful of freckles dusted her cheeks.  “Shouldn’t you two be working?” she asked in an overly sweet voice. The twins nodded and shrugged off her vice grip. As they started their rounds, Cassi wondered how much the nurse had heard.

Once the girls had left, the nurse’s grin turned into a predatory smirk. “Ooooh, they’ll be more fun than I thought,” she snickered. “I’m sure Father won’t mind if I stick around for awhile.” When no one was looking, she slunk back into the shadow of the staircase. A moment later a lizard crawled up the wall and out the open window. 


	8. VIII

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And we are back! With summer classes, tests, and work all jumping down my co-writer and my throat we are sorry for getting back to you so late. Thank-you all for being so loyal. Much Love. We only own Amy, Cassi and the Colonel.

VIII

“You’re heading over to the Med Bay again?” Roy looked up from his book on war tactics. The men were in their shared room. It was large enough to accommodate both their cots and two desks. One desk sat in between their beds (“no snuggling for us,” Maes had joked when he first saw the room) and the other sat at the foot of the other bed, in the corner. Roy was studying on his bed, a stack of books were on his desk, the one right between the cots. Several of the books were on alchemy. Maes skimmed through them when he was bored but chalked it up to complicated magic (“It is a science!” Roy had exerted. Maes shrugged nonchalantly, “Science, magic, it’s still weird, crazy shit”). Hughes had also been studying when he suddenly announced he felt ill. Hughes gave him a sly smirk as he changed out of his pyjamas into sweatpants and a plain cotton tee. 

“It’s gotta be the heat. Or I may be coming down with yellow fever.” He winked at his roommate who didn’t seem thrilled in the least. “Roy-boy, you wanna feel my temperature and make me feel better?”

“Goddamnit, Hughes!” Roy yelled as he shoved the man away. Maes placed a hand over his heart and wiped away a pretend tear. “Maes, can you at least act like an officer of the Amestrian Military?”

“See, if my best friend won’t take care of me, I’m sure Nurse Cassi would.”

A spark of understanding flickered through Roy’s coal eyes. He closed his book, and rested his bare palm upon it. He began in a low, calming tone, one best reserved for reprimanding. “Hughes, we’re here to fight a war, not pick up ducks or whatever you call it.”

“Chicks.” The man looked up from tying his boots. He stood and stretched, and let out a drawn out yawn.

“What?” Roy blinked several times, clearly it was too late to be having this conversation. He stared at Maes whose eyes were lost in the light-catching glare of his glasses. From the short time he’s known Hughes, the man loved to hide his deviousness in seemingly benign acts.

“The phrase is pick up chicks. Geez Mustang, you act like you’ve never been had any fun. Those books aren’t going to keep you company on these long cold nights.”

Roy ignored him and turned back to his reading.

“Well I guess you could just burn them,” Maes tore the book from Roy’s hands.

“Hughes, give me back my book.” He reached for it but Maes skipped back a few paces. When Roy lunged for it, he threw it to his other hand and dangled it behind his back.

Maes chuckled, “Sure, sure Mustang, just after you answer my question first.” 

Roy’s silence was a cue for Maes to continue, “I’ve been curious. You know me, super curious.” 

The alchemist narrowed his eyes.“Get to the point, Hughes.” He had given up reaching for the book and sat on the bed with his arms crossed. It was best to play with his game, always use the road of least resistance, at least that was what they were taught  at the academy.

Maes made a show of flipping through the pages, pretending to read Roy’s annotations in the margins. He squinted at the chemical formulas, they seemed to be blurry squibbles to him. “About the twins, when was the first time you’ve met them?” A week and a half had already came and flew by, but still the conversation he overheard (eavesdropped on) replayed in his mind. He studied Roy’s body language but nothing seemed to change that annoyed, bored expression Maes was sure was the man’s only face. 

“I had the unfortunate chance to met the terrible twosome the first day we deployed.” He raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

Maes hummed then slammed the book shut, then tossed it onto the bed. “They were talking about you, something about you being very “spicy”, pretty sure that means they think you’re cute.” Roy’s scowl grew. “Hey, man, just scoping out the competition.”

“Well have no fear, I have no intention of courting them,” Roy flipped back to his page to continue reading.

“Courting?” Maes chuckled, “what century are you from?” He grabbed his jacket and called over his shoulder, “don’t wait up for me dear.”

“Just leave.”

“So cold, Roy. To think we would have grown so far apart --”

Roy chucked his shoe at the door, which Maes managed to evade by shutting it promptly. The Flame Alchemist could still hear the man’s laughter from down the hall. He sighed, finally some peace and quiet.

\---

Maes had grabbed his jacket to battle the chilling air of the desert but he found he rather liked the cold. He nodded to one of the sentries as he passed. The kid almost snapped his arm off trying to salute him. Another nearly crapped his pants, mumbling how sneaking the First Lieutenant was. Maes had a good laugh at that one. It didn’t take long to reach the Med Bay. The building was in complete darkness, kind of ghostlike from its rundown exterior. Inside, it felt like there was a collective breath, as if the building itself was breathing, come alive to devour unsuspecting travelers. Maes chided himself, maybe he should read less thrillers and more “scientific” books like his friend. 

The halls were lit with sconces and candles, most of the candles were halfway to candle Heaven. It was lucky there were alchemists around who could reshape the melted candles back into sticks in a blink of an eye. Or a snap. Why was he getting distracted by candles? Was it nerves that made him so jumpy?

His foot found the staircase and the boards creaked under his weight. If anyone wasn’t awake, they were now as the old dry wood wailed beneath him. At the head of the stairs, he paused, no one was stirring. He let out a breath, counted down the doors and knocked on the twins’ room. There was no answer. No shifting. No mumbled curses. He grabbed the knob and it turned easily in his palm. An empty room greeted him. Moonlight streak through the partly opened curtains unto the two prim and properly made beds. Dust had settled over the small desk to his right. It seemed like no one slept here for days. 

“What in the world?” Maes backed out into the hall and recounted the doors. Yes, this was the room they were in that day, had they used a different room to throw him off? Could they have enough forethought for that?

Muffled yawning came from across the hall, and a nurse wobbled out of her room. Her droopy eyes widened in surprise and her hands darted to pat down the mess of frizzled hair, 

“Oh First Lieutenant Hughes,” she blushed. “I didn’t know you were that kind of man.” She gazed up at him with sparkling eyes. Who would have known it was that easy? He shook the thoughts away, which was easier than on other nights. When Maes Hughes was scouting for information it was easy to push everything else aside.

“Sorry, I was looking for someone,” he gave her an easy smile but she pouted.

“Let me guess, the Blacks,” she sneered.

“Yes, Nurse Cassi Black borrowed a book of mine and I really need it back.” He scratched the back of his head, a move meant to show his embarrassment. The nurse bought it, the hostility left her eyes. It was a good thing she was half-asleep and couldn’t question the inappropriateness of the hour.

“A book?” she repeated slowly. He nodded and she gave him a relieved smile. “She’s down in the women’s quarters.” At his questioning glance, she added, “that beat up old shack by the officer’s quarters.”

“I thought that was a tool shed.”

“It was. Come back when you get your book, maybe we can read together,” she said with a wink.

Maes excused himself, not quickly enough for his like. He made a beeline for the tool shed, and lo and behold a candle burned brightly within. He knocked on the door, their was a clatter followed by some curses, then the soft padding as someone came to the door.

“Who is it?”

“First Lieutenant Maes Hughes.”

“Son of a whore,” the girl whispered. The shed was made of very thin material and they probably didn’t realize how much he could hear. 

“Who is it?” the other sister called from deeper in the shed.

“Maes fucking Hughes, this is all your fault.”

“Ooooh, let me talk to him.” He could see their dancing shadows from the gap beneath the door.

“What? So you can throw yourself at him again? No way.” Maes looked at the shack mildly amused on what he could hear it was good to see he hasn’t lost any of his charm just yet.

“If this is a bad time, I could always come again,” he chuckled.

“It’s the middle of the night!” came the more agitated  of the two voices. It was Amy, he assumed.

“Yes, and quite a relief from the blistering heat,” he chuckled. “I just wanted to talk, maybe go for a walk.”

The door flew open. “This isn’t freaking Central, stop trying to pick up my sister,” Amy sneered.

Maes held up his hands in mock surrender, “trust me I learned my lesson the hard way.”

“Amy loosen up, it's fine Lieutenant I will walk with you.” Cassi said as she stepped out wearing her pajamas from when she first arrived. Over the past few years  her once matching vibrant blue pants and a long sleeve button down shirt had faded to an off grey.   
“Interesting attire, were you going out?” Maes raised his brow as Amy huffed and closed the door behind them. They both walked away from the building slowly with no destination in mind.

“Oh no this is my sleep wear.” Cassie said with a blush, straightening her shirt. Maes raised his brow at the outfit that he would never assign as sleep wear. It looked similar to male business wear if anything.

“Fancy sleepwear.” he commented. “A boyfriend’s?” he kept his voice light, friendly.

Her blush deepened as she shook her head.

“I’m sure Lieutenant you did not come knocking on my door at this hour to comment on my sleeping attire.”

“Ah you wound me. Can’t I visit a beautiful desert flower just for the sake of spending time in her company?”

“Lieutenant…”

“What made you want to be a nurse?” Maes asked, turning to look at her, his face curious but his eyes calculating.

“Oh, well to tell you the truth, it’s a job that was assigned to me.” Cassi stated with a wry smile.  
“I didn’t know we were drafting nurses…” Maes said in confusion.

“Well no. My sister and I are not nurses in the traditional sense. Amy and I are military personnel. We are soldiers.” Cassi said watching Maes eyes widen a fraction in shock.  
“We recruited you?”

“We didn’t give the military much of a choice. You can kinda say we fell out of the sky at just the right time.” 

Maes looked at the giggling female in confusion for a moment before filing the information away for later.

“So what is your skill set?”

“Well I am a Marksman, my sister is more of a close quarters combat type. Lt. Colonel Olivier Armstrong is our training officer along with her brother Major Alex Armstrong.”

Maes studied her as he filed more information away. These twins were an enigma,both military and strong in their own right but they had the strangest of skill sets for women. A Marksman, she was short wisp of a woman he wasn’t sure she could lift a gun steadily but he has been proven wrong before. Her twin on the other hand he could see being a spitfire close combat type. His few short encounters proved her to be a very outspoken woman and he was sure she could throw a few punches to match.

“What about you?”

“Me?”

“Yes Lt.. Hughes what is your skill set.”

Maes stopped and turned to her with a hint of a smile. Maybe he could make this work to his advantage, as they say, always know your enemy. If she could evaluate him correctly or incorrectly maybe he would be able to gauge her perception.

“How about you take a guess.”

She took a moment to look him up and down, then smiled. “You, Lt. Hughes, have a very inquisitive mind. I think I would peg you for a Spy. Gathering information kind of guy. You must have been working towards Psychology in school.”

Maes was floored .

“Am I right?” Cassi asked with a smile. She didn’t await his response and continued speaking, “you have a keen eye and a steady hand.” She made a point to look him over. “Darts, or knives. Are you a knives kind of man, Lt. Hughes?”

He laughed to shake off his nervousness. “Right on the mark. Wow, you really are something.” 

She smiled and kept walking, oblivious to his calculating gaze. Maes was not sure what to make of the strange female. He prided himself on his ability to analyze individuals both foreign and domestic for their danger and he was not sure where to file this girl and her twin. There just was not enough information to go on. 

“Best keep a closer watch.” he said softly and he sped up to catch up with the girl.  
“So Lt. do you spar?” 

“Spar? 

\---

Olivier kept her eyes pointed out on the training field as she watched both Amy and Cassi work on their hand to hand against Alex. Their cohesiveness as a unit was nothing short of perfect. Their ability to just sense the other and silently communicate on the field was sublime. If they could take those skills and hone them towards their weakest skills, they could almost be worth of carrying the Armstrong name, assuming her brothers mannerisms towards the older twin was anything to go by.

“Lt. Colonel.”

Olivier barely glanced over her shoulder before returning her full focus to the spar in front of her.“Lt. Hughes.”

Maes watched the fight calculatingly as he rubbed the side of his face for a moment. 

“How’s your face?” Oliver said as she watched the twins double team her brother. Cassi had come a long way in her hand to hand skills and she was a quick thinker on calculated hits. Her twin Amy was already calculating but her hits fell more into force and power, she made less hits with more power and was almost fluid in her movements using the natural swing of her body to push through to the next forceful punch or kick.

“Healed up but slightly tender I think the lesson truly sunk in.” Maes said barely grazing where he held the former mark that had almost fully healed.

“Good to hear.”

“You know Lt. Colonel, when Sergeant Black told me that she did early morning training with you and Major Armstrong I did not believe it would be so intense.” Maes stated, watching how Cassi triple kicked up Alex’s side only to be pushed back by his arm. Amy was on him in a moment taking advantage of Alex’s distraction with a sharp kick to the back of the legs forcing him down.

“It’s what their training requires.”

“However so?”

“Hughes, there is a different level of skill a female has to have out on the front lines. The worst a male has to face is is a combatant that wants to separate their head from their shoulders. The worst a female has to face is someone who would wish to do worse whether they are alive or dead.” Olivier turned to glare at him.

“Why have the two females on the front lines?”

“Why have men on the front lines? We are at war Lt. The enemy does not care whether you have a piece of meat betwixt your thighs. They just care that one man shot one child and we are at war now because of it. They want a man we can’t provide. These two women are one of our best assets or do you feel that women can not be soldiers Lt.”

“I believe some women have a certain frailty that men do not have.”

“Well then Lt. you would have no issue then sparing with one of the sergeants then.” Olivier smirked as she stepped into the training ring. Hughes stared at Olivier's back in confusion.

“Time! Black 1 one on one with with Lt. Hughes. Black 2 one on one Major Armstrong.” She yelled as Cassi broke away from her training with her sister and Armstrong. 

“Lt. Hughes, nice to see you.” Cassi smiled, brushing her hair back from her face. “I’m glad you accepted the invitation.” She seemed relatively relaxed and not as out of breath that he felt she should be after all the activity he witnessed. 

He thought, ‘the Lt. Colonel didn’t give me much of a choice.’ Instead, he said, “Major Armstrong seems to have been going easy on both you and your sister.” as he shook hands with Cassi. Cassi just smiled widely at him 

“Oh that, that was a warm up. The really fun happens with the one on ones.” Cassi smirked as she stepped back a few paces.

“One on one, hand to hand, do not strike to kill,” Olivier announced.

Hughes fell into a defensive stance, he liked to read his opponent before even the first strike. Cassi had her arms up to protect her face, much like a boxer. She took a tentative step forward, then rushed towards him. He deflected the punch at his face, and stepped back as she threw a wide kick. This went on for a few minutes, her attacking and him dodging. Sweat gleamed on his brow and he now wished he had at least taken off his uniform jacket. Cassi was quick and it took all his concentration to focus on dodging instead of other things, such as the way her raven hair stuck to her face in little curls, or how her eyes crinkled in silent laughter.

He smirked himself, he saw her pattern. When she struck out with her right arm, Hughes leaned away in the last second, sidestepping and grabbed Cassi’s shoulder and wrist. He applied just enough pressure that her knees buckled, then forced her to the ground.

“Do you yield?” he asked. She struggled and squirmed beneath him before resigning to her fate. Hughes helped her up and chuckled at the line of sand on her face. He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, “thank you for the spar, milady.” He smirked.

“Likewise,” she said. She was red in the face, from the sun and the spar, but the way her eyes held his, made Hughes invite her for another midnight rendezvous.

“Why Lt. Hughes, the camp would start to talk.”

“Well it is pretty boring out here, why not give the boys something to talk about.” He laughed then left to perform his own neglected duties.

Cassi watched as he walked away only to have Olivier step up next to her “You gave him an opening.”

“I wanted to learn his tactics.”

“You threw the spar to have him underestimate you. Interesting tactic.”

“I learn more that way.” Cassi said with a grin.

“Don’t do it again. While effective in learning the style of new recruits you best not perform in such a way. Gives the men too big a head and lowers their respect towards you. He’s attractive but I don’t recommend fraternizing.” Olivier said earning a smile from her trainee.

“Attractive, my my Lt. Colonel to think you find someone attractive. What would Colonel Ryan say.” Cassi teased as the two turned to watch Alex and Amy spar. 

“Colonel Ryan and I have an understanding. He knows where my loyalties lie.” Olivier smiled as she raised her brow to the shorter Sergeant. 

“Did he finally get around to it?” Cassi asked 

“He’s good for his word. When this is all said and done we will see. My brother however may get around to it before the Colonel ” Olivier smirked as she turned to watch the standstill that was the match between Alex and Amy. Olivier turned towards the sound of crunching sand to see a jogging private running towards her with a notice in hand. She silently took the note and browsed it over.   
“Match! Black, you and your twin are wanted in Colonel Ryan’s office immediately for your next assignment. Fall out!” Olivier yelled and watched Amy and Alex separate. 

\---

Colonel Ryan sighed as he looked down at the orders in his hand. There was no way to avoid the situation now that the Brass made the call and he had to push it off to his men. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he sighed as he waited for the twins to report for duty. His office, a far cry from the tent he had to use in the first weeks of the war, was an unoccupied room on the first floor of the officer’s quarters. The building was an evacuated dorm. The rooms were small but sufficient and with the current rate of loosing officers and enlisted alike, vacancies were no longer an issue. His uniform jacket laid over his chair, the damn room was too hot and the fan had quit on him. He made a mental note to ask Olivier to send her brother over. 

While his thoughts turned to the blonde beauty, he remembered their encounter last night. Her plump lips on his, the gleam of sweat from under the fluorescent bulbs, her ice blue eyes, half-lidded with desire, her soft moans as he... 

He snapped out of the memory at the knock on his door.

“Enter,” his voice hoarse.

The door opened but the twins stayed right outside the doorway. “Sir you wished to see us,” they said in unison. 

“Yes. Come in, I have a new mission for the both of you.” Colonel Ryan stated getting up from his desk and came around watching the Twins fall into attention. 

“At ease soldiers. I have a retrieval mission set for the two of you. Seeing as this is a classified mission I can not send the two of you alone and I hope you understand. Because of the severity of the mission, I have been informed it's required you both take a State Alchemist with you. This is out of my control. I understand you two are capable but I have to agree with my superiors that it is best for your safety and the success of your mission that you have an Alchemist guard.”

Amy and Cassi looked at each other with as they absorbed the severity of the mission.

The Colonel continued, “I have assigned you two to have Major Solf J. Kimblee as your guard.”

Amy and Cassi’s eyes widened, “What!” they shouted. 

“Is there a problem?” Colonel Ryan looked at the two in surprise.

“Sir. Honestly,” Cassi started.

“Anyone but him.” Amy finished looking at their favorite superior officer. 

Colonel Ryan leaned back into his desk with concern. 

“Is there something the two of you would like to share with me? It is quite surprising that you would have issues with the Major. He has been quite respectable here in the camp. However, if you have a reason you do not want to be alone with him I would be more than happy to make sure you are kept separated or dispose of the issue myself.” Colonel Ryan firmly stated looking between the Twins. 

“Sir. Its nothing like that.”

“We just…”

“We have a disagreement with the man.”

“He is a bit…”

“Off putting.”

The twins traded off saying as they tried to come up with a viable excuse as to why they did not want to be left alone with who they knew to be a psychopath. 

“Girls, I want you to be frank with me. I need to know if he has done anything inappropriate to the two of you. If that is the case I will dispose of him myself, you know I will. Has he touched you? Stalked you? Made any threats or inappropriate advances?”

“No.” Amy said.

“No he has not.” Cassi said.

Colonel Ryan shrugged his shoulders, “then you are just going to have to deal with him. ” Colonel Ryan watched the girls glance at each other nervously before they nodded to him. There was a knock at his door before it opened.

“You wished to see me sir.” Behind them Kimblee stepped into the office stepping into attention with a salute. 

“Right on time Major. I’m sure you know Sergeants Black 1 and 2, as we’ve dubbed them. I will be deploying the three of you on a retrieval mission to the humanitarian nursing station. We have been informed we have a few men recovering there and they need to be retrieved before enemies decide to dispose of them.”

Kimblee looked at the Colonel thoughtfully.

“The Rockbells?”

“Yes, you are there for retrieval. This is a rescue mission. Avoid confrontation. However, if your lives are in danger I want you to light it up.” Colonel Ryan growled out.

“You want us to dispose of the humanitarians?” Kimblee tilted his head. 

“Unless they attack you, no. However, if the Ishvalans take to attacking you, get the Amestrians out of there and blow the tent up. Rockbell blood will not be on our hands, that is a shit storm I do not want to deal with. If they wish to continue treating the wounded they can do it for the safety of our nursing stations. Are we clear? Get in, get out, avoid confrontation.”

“Affirmative.” The three said.

“Blacks,  prepare for the mission as I fill in Kimblee. It would probably be best to wear the nursing uniform, it might give the enemy some pause if you encounter them..”

“Sir, yes sir.” The twins shouted before they performed their about-face, leaving. Colonel Ryan eyed the door before he turned to look at the calculating face of the Major in front of him.   
“At ease Major.”

“I take it there is something else you have in mind for my mission.” Kimblee tilted his head back, relaxing his mind. 

Colonel Ryan grit his teeth as he pulled out his orders from the desk. He handed over the letter to Kimblee who read through it with rapt interest, his eyes widening for a fraction before he went back to his mildly aloof expression.

“No survivors.” Colonel Ryan said as he took back the letter and filed it back in his desk.

“And the twins?” Kimblee said looking out the window to see the twins were calling out to some privates to pull around the truck they would need for the mission. “I’m sure you are not sending them out on this mission so they never return.”

“They are to never know we had this conversation.” Colonel Ryan said giving Kimblee a heated warning. 

“They won’t find out from me sir.” Kimblee eyed the Colonel, watching him relax.

“Perfect you are dismissed.”

\---

It was high noon as the truck bounced along the worn dirt road. In the back of the truck the twins clung to the sides as Kimblee seem to hit every bump and ditch, throwing the two all over the truck bed. 

“Blacks, you do know there is plenty of room inside the cab.” Kimblee called over his shoulder looking into his rearview mirror in concern. 

“It’s alright Major, we are perfectly... fine.” Amy called back as she was thrown forward into her sister.

“I find that extremely difficult to believe.” Kimblee replied as another bounce threw the second twin sprawling in the bed of the truck. 

“I’m ok.” she called out.

Kimblee glared through his rearview mirror and pulled over to the side of the road. 

“Ladies, so help me get into the cab or I will pull you in here myself.” He eyed them and the silent glances they sent each other and then him. They seemed to struggle with the decision but after a minute, they realized Kimblee wouldn’t move unless they complied. The twins climbed out of the truck bed, it was difficult given they had to don their nursing uniforms. They looked at each other before they played three quick rounds of some sort of handgame Kimblee had never seen. 

The twin with the shorter hair,  Kimblee supposed she was the younger sister, had lost their hand game and she climbed into the cab with a look of dismay. 

“It appears I have a not so pleasant reputation.” Kimblee stated as he continued his drive down the road.

“It certainly precedes you,” Amy started looking past her sister who pressed as close to her as possible. 

“Yea, in a fire cloud of brimstone, ash and death.” Cassi muttered receiving an elbow to the gut.

“So it’s my alchemic ability that is giving you a fright.” Kimblee smiled looking over at the two. He could understand their wariness, he didn’t have the calmest of alchemic finesse. 

“That really is not the case,” Amy said trying to smooth the situation over but her grumbling sister was not having any of it.

“Just the image, death by explosion.” Cassi snarked as she made a exploding gesture with her hands.

“Cassiopeia,” Amy warned.

“Amalthea,” Cassi replied through grit teeth.

“Those are certainly traditional names. Star names correct. There’s an old saying that goes naming your child after the stars is to bless them with the knowledge of the universe and the beauty of the night sky.” Kimblee stated with a half grin “It’s a rather archaic tradition that spans back a few hundred years or so, only the old blue bloods now really give a damn about traditions such as that.”

The twin glanced to him in interest.

“Oh I take it this is fairly new information to you?”

“Not something our mother ever really got into telling us. She just said is a family tradition and left it at that.” Cassi replied.

“It’s a respectable tradition.” Kimblee commented as they continued down the road “Do your parents have issue with you two in the military?”

“They don’t…” Amy began.

“They are not around anymore.” Cassi said as she looked away.

“It’s painful when you no longer have any family.”

“What about you?” Cassi asked, her curiosity overpowering her fear. Kimblee kept his gaze on the road, they were taking the longer, but hopefully safer route. Ryan had warned against going through the city which was easy to ambush (as the twins knew all too well). The mostly empty town sailed past to their right. Kimblee glanced at Cassi and saw she was still expecting an answer. He didn’t seem like the maniac they had thought him to be with his calm voice and demeanor.

“My father,” he said finally, “he left when I was very young, for a blue blood family like mine that was an insult. It drew our family name into the mud. My mother passed a few years later, I was maybe twelve at the time. I lived the rest of my years with an uncle. He is not around anymore either for which I am thankful.”  

The truck began to slow as he began turning back into the town. The twins’ eyes flitted from the rooftops to the windows and opened doorways for any sign of movement. They would not be caught unawares again. 

“So tell me meine sterne, what are your hobbies?”

“Hobbies?” Cassi was finding it easier to talk to the man, and it was quite more enjoyable than flinching at his every word, waiting for him to snap.

“Yes, when you were not in this war what did you do? I assume two schöne Frauen like you beautiful ladies, must have had a sophisticated upbringing.”

Cassi looked at him oddly. “Not really. I mean mother made us learn dance and an instrument.”

“I loathed ballet.” Amy grumbled under her breath.

“Otherwise we didn’t have much sophistication.” Cassi finished, ignoring her sister.

“There was gymnastics,” Amy added. She kept her eyes on the side mirror. No one had followed as far as the girls could tell and Kimblee seemed relaxed. The Rockbells’ tent was about a two hundred meters ahead. It was a safe zone, neither Amestrian nor Ishvalan could attack each other. It was a safe haven for some, a death trap waiting to happen for others. Amy assumed that was why the Colonel was having them evacuate the Amestrian soldiers.

“That was fun it wasn’t a chore,” Cassi continued. Her shoulders had become more relaxed and she wasn’t sitting on the edge of her seat anymore. Kimblee noticed these small changes and a secret smile touched his lips. “because ‘Proper ladies must be well rounded in all forms of life’.” 

Kimblee smirked at that response as his eyes scanned the windows as he drove by homes ready to gun the engine.“My mother was very much the same in that regard. Very much into the arts and proper models of expression. The school of art and the classics were her favorite.”

“What kind of art is your favorite?” she asked.

“I tend to deviate from what most would call art. Alchemy is to me what a painter feels towards a brush and canvas.” 

“Isn’t your Alchemy destructive?” Cassi inquired.

“To be fair, I can just as well build up a building as I can tear one down. I just have a preference towards destruction.”

“Why?”

“Much the same reason why people stop to watch a accident or a street performer. To see what happens next. Take that building for instance.” Before them on the street was a large building. The building has several large cracks in the side and looked ready to fall in on itself. 

“If someone was there fixing it, they may get one look, possibly two, but repairs would mostly be ignored. However if I was there. With a snap of my fingers I would have a crowd as the building explodes.”

“But you won’t stop at just buildings,” Amy muttered. She caught Kimblee’s sidelong glare over her sister’s head but it disappeared. The truck rolled to a stop, the tent was before them. Kimblee quickly did a three-point turn so the truck faced the street they have just driven down. His palm idled over the keys, his golden eyes stared at the steering wheel in contemplation. 

“Let’s go bring our boys home.” He smiled and it seemed so genuine the girls had to blink. Amy slid out of the cabin with Cassi right behind her. Amy opened the truck bed as Cassi drew a transmutation circle on the ground. Once activated, the ground formed into a ramp that ran up to the bed. The sisters nodded to each other and the three alchemists took a step towards the tent. 

A flash of red light crackled under the sand hued tent before it went up in flames. Amy and Cassi were thrown back by the force of the explosion while Kimblee was able to stand his ground holding his hat against the force of the explosion. Kimblee was the first to react, he sneered and murmured, “distasteful,” under his breath. Cassi gaped in horror before rushing towards the tent. Amy grabbed her hand, and just shook her head. 

“We have to be able to do something, we can change things!” Cassi shot forward again towards the burning tent. It was eerily silent as if the flames had consumed every living breath as it danced upon the sandy canvas. “Sarah! Yuriy!” Cassi shouted as she saw the building raised in a large ball of flame and a cloud of smoke.

 


	9. IX

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Happy Wednesday everyone w are glad to be back. As always we remind you all that we only own the Twins and the Colonel. Thank-you to our loyal viewers for without you we would not continue. Much love from Kurosawa and Artemis and please review.

IX

Amy held Cassi back as they watched the building burn to cinders. Cassi’s face was red with tears as she leaned into her sister. Kimblee stood a step away and watched the burning building with intense disgust. Looking off to the side, his gaze sharpened as he saw a group of people making their way towards the building. 

“While I understand the need to grieve, we have company .” Kimblee stepped in front of the girls, shielding them from the group of men that they could now recognize as Ishvalans. There were easily fifteen of them, young, strong men. The men had their sights trained on the fire and smoke. One man shouted for water, most kneeled before the sight, either in despair or to pray. “Move slowly towards the truck,” he instructed, but it was too late, the group finally noticed them. The few that were quick to aim their weapons, shot at them, causing the trio to lurch to the sides. 

Kimblee placed his hands to the ground and caused a minor explosion. The cloud of sand and dust would only hide them for so long. He grabbed Cassi’s hand as she had jumped in the same direction as him and ran for the truck. He shoved her into the cabin and slipped inside. Bullets peppered the truck like angry, big pieces of hail. He glanced at the rear view mirror, the men weren’t advancing but he could see the frightened grey eyes of Amy from behind a building. Kimblee sucked in air, waited for the cease in fire and stuck his hand out the window. He raised his hand in the air, with his index finger pointing upwards and rotated his wrist. The gunfire commenced; he retracted his hand and started the vehicle. He hoped Amy received the message to meet at the rally point.

“Keep your head down!” He ordered. Cassi didn’t need to be told twice and flattened herself against the seat. Glass shattered and rained upon them in their desperate haste.

“But Amy --”

“She’ll be fine, we’ll extract her from the rally point, but only if we get out of here in one piece.” He grit his teeth as he raced down the streets. It was what the Colonel feared, the Ishvalans thought the Amestrians had broken the unspoken non-aggression treaty. The brass had planned to break it, but it wasn’t the Amestrians who blew up the clinic. He raked his brain trying to think who could have done this.

Amy shrunk away from the gunfire and turned down the alleys as the Ishvalans attempted to chase after the truck. Hopefully, they wouldn’t recall there were two nurses. She glanced at the sun, and tried to gage her direction. The rally point was only about a mile away. Kimblee would probably skirt around the town instead of taking the roads as he had done earlier. She cursed their luck.

Voices sounded around her and she ducked into an open doorway. She covered her mouth to minimize her panting as she stepped further into the darkened sanctuary. The voices went past the door, they didn’t even slow. Once they receded, she let out a sigh of relief. Something clattered behind her. Her hand immediately went for the gun that wasn’t at her side. She stood frozen, hand hovering over her empty hip like a gunslinger of old. Two red eyes pierced in the muted light of the home. 

“...you…” she whispered.

The man had a tightly wrapped bandage around his face that was bleeding through and was taking on a pasty color due to pain. He leaned heavily against the wall as he glared down at Amy. He let out a snarl as she backed away her back pressed against the wall. 

“Please.. I’m just a nurse…” Amy whimpered as she looked away seeing him reach out a hand to her. 

The man turned away and looked out the door. “Where is my brother?”

“Your...brother..”

“He was with me. He should have been brought with me,” he shouted. 

“I don’t know. Honestly, I didn’t see him and the nursing station is in flames. I swear I don’t know. I’ll help you find him but... please…”

Amy watched the man pull down his arm. His eyes were glassy as he slumped down the wall. She looked between the man and the door and bit her lip. 

“Are...are you in pain?”

“God has bestowed this pain upon me for a higher purpose,” the man breathed leaning his head back against the wall.

“God may bestow your pain but it never is more than you can handle. God does not wish for his children to suffer either,” Amy said as she kneeled down next to him and started to check his bandages.

“You believe?” The man questioned not pushing her away. He took deep breaths as she pulled the bandages back.

“You’re lucky you didn’t lose your eyes. Your God and mine are very similar but I don’t believe we follow the same scripture.” Amy winced at the ripped, tender skin beneath the white bandages.

“There is only one God.” He growled out as he felt her press at the skin on his face.

Amy paused to stare at him wondering if she really wanted to get into a debate with a lunatic/murderer. “One God but many ways to look to him.” Amy said as she sighed “I’m going to need to re-stitch part of your face, you popped too many stitches. I need to get equipment to clean you up and fix the damage but it’s not safe for me out there alone and I don’t think you will get very far bleeding like that.” Amy said looking out of the house she was hiding in.

“Why do you hide?” he asked. 

“Because right now it is not safe to be white here. With this war, people attack first and question later. Amestrians attack Ishvalans, Ishvalans attack Amestrian, people against people. And now with the humanitarians nursing station up in flames and the good doctor and his wife are dead...It looks bad.” Amy said as she looked out the door. 

“I’ll go.” he said as he stumbled forward. “I will get what is needed and return.”

“You will not! You can barely walk on your own and you have no idea what I need to get for you.” Amy said as she looked around the room. Seeing an abandoned scarf and dress she turned to the man  “Give me a moment maybe I can blend in.”

She took the dress and scarf and put it on over her outfit unsure if the added layer would help her much. Turning to the man she looked at him in confusion. 

“Am I wearing this right?”

The man waved her over, which she did reluctantly, and he adjusted her dress and head scarf. The dress had long sleeves and brushed her ankles, it was obviously made for a taller woman than she. While her black hair wouldn’t have been an issue (the sisters had seen many dark-haired Ishvalans over the years), it would be her eyes that gave her away. The tell-tale blood red eyes of the Ishvalans. Hopefully, walking beside a clearly visible Ishvalan would give her enough cover. 

She gave him a shaky nod as she stepped back, the man’s commanding presence was stifling. “Alright, here’s the plan: My sister, another nurse, and our military escort will be waiting for me at a preordained rally point. There are medical supplies in the truck which we were going to give to the humanitarian doctors. It’s only about a mile away.” The wall seemed to be the only thing keeping him upright and his face was contorted into a deep grimace. “Can you make it?”

“Yes,” he answered resolutely. Amy approached him as one would approach a rabid animal. She took his wrist and, when she didn’t explode into a million pieces, she draped his arm over her shoulders. It was difficult to find a comfortable walking position because of their difference in height. They left the refuge of the house to rejoin the smoldering onslaught of the Sun. Amy’s nerves were fried, she couldn’t help but be aware of the ticking time bomb that was beside her. The black tattoos sat like poisonous snakes, ready to strike.

“Why are you helping me?” he asked suddenly.

She squeaked and peered up at him, “you’re in pain.”

He grunted. “Your people invaded our lands and slaughtered my brothers and sisters.”

She remained silent. It would be easy to quip back, ‘but I’m a nurse’, because that wasn’t close to the truth. Cassi and she had their turn at returning Ishvalans to the dust from whence they came.

“Your silence speaks volumes.”

“It won’t matter what I say, let’s just say there are other sinister forces at work and Ametris and Ishval are both puppets in a macabre play.” Amy breathed out.

“Demons walk among the people. They shall take on the flesh of the mortal man and speak in tongues of the sinister and corrupt, armed with the power of the Devil himself they will speak of false prophets and Gods, all for their Lord and Master the one they call the Father.” The man recited. 

Amy paused as she turned to look at him in confusion only for him to grunt and shake his head. “An Ishvalan woman must never look directly into the eyes of a man in public.” He said quickly. “Keep your head down.” he stated as he heard a group up ahead.  

Amy mildly tensed as the man kept a firm grip on her shoulder and stood straighter the group walked right to them “Brother! What has the white man done to you!” the group cried out as they took in his appearance. “Have you seen them the ghosts! They were here! We feel one of them is hiding in the old buildings.”

“It was an explosion. There was a man possessed and he took me down with his devil magic. I have not seen the ghost since,” the man said calmly to the group who started to fuss over him. 

“Sister are you ok?” On of the group members asked lightly touching her shoulder. Amy had to do everything in her power not to shy under the touch. 

“She is fine she is taking me to recover. She is worried about the white men and their devil magic.”

“The white man has killed the doctor and his wife. They ran away like the ghosts they are. We must send them forth to the judgment of Ishvala! He that kills his own kin has no right to walk amongst the shadow of Ishvala. They shall be sent to judgment and burn in his light!” a man shouted igniting a fire in his group who shouted and chanted for the heads of the Amestrians. The man with Amy tensed as she shrunk further into the his side. The group talked amongst themselves as Amy practically shook.

“While I wish to join you I feel ill. Sister must take me home. May Ishvala bless your quest in his holy war,” the man with the scar whispered the group nodding. The men all gave them a bow. 

“May Ishvala’s holy light bless you brother. Sister, may you have the strength to get him to safety,” a man said as he touched both Amy and the man’s shoulder and the group started to rush away.

\---

His fingers drummed against the steering wheel as his eyes darted to his pocket watch that lay opened in his lap. It’s already been over an hour but he couldn’t dissuade the woman on top of the truck to come down. He had already threatened her twice that he was going to gun it back camp but still she stood resolutely on top of the pickup. Cassi held the military-issued binoculars to her eyes as she scanned the town.

“Black, I’m going to have to call it…”

“Just five more minutes,” she called back. It was now her new mantra. Kimblee sighed, and flipped his pocket watch close before slipping it back into his pocket. Her feet thumped on the roof of the cab, “I see her! I see…” her voice trailed off and Kimblee got out of the cab for a better look. He squinted against the glare of the sun before the excited female shoved a pair of goggles in his face. He glared up at her before he adjusted the lenses and looked out at a semi busy market. Scanning the crowd he could barely make out a spot of white in the sea of yellows and tans.

“I would not cheer so quickly.” Kimblee started, seeing a commanding body was hovering near the sister. Her head was down and the man held a strong arm over her shoulder and pulled her away from people as they walked through the market. 

“What’s wrong?”

“It appears she may be a hostage.”


	10. X

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone Kurosawa and I want to thank you our loyal viewers for keeping an eye on Beyond the Gate and here is our next installment

X

“Hostage!” Cassi shouted as she picked up her skirt and slid off the roof of the truck. She turned to run toward the town only to get tackled into the sand and roll down a dune.

“What in the ever loving name of all that is sane do you think you are doing?” He glared down at Cassi, holding her arms over her head.

“I need to save my sister! Get off of me!” Cassi fought against him only for Kimblee to force more of his weight on her.

“Oh and how do you plan to do that? Are you going to run into town and demand they hand her over?” Kimblee growled down at the woman he held pinned to the desert sand.

“Now I have had it up to here with you and that twin of yours. I have put up with the distrust, the ridiculous attitudes, and the snide remarks from the two of you. I have stood here in the bleeding sun and listened to your ‘Five more minutes’ for hours. All I have to show for it is a splitting migraine the size of Ametris itself and a sunburn. Now you are going to listen to me.” Kimblee glared down at Cassi. “I will not tolerate any more insubordination. Is that understood?”

She nodded.

“Good,” he didn’t lessen the pressure he had on her. “The best thing is to wait and signal them towards our position. We will see what the man’s intentions are and then go from there. As long as they are within range, we can control the situation.” He stared down at the worried grey eyes, her cap had fallen during the tumble and sand and hair stuck to her skin.

“I’m going to release you now, do you promise to not do anything stupid?”

She nodded once again. Kimblee stood up and extended a hand to help Cassi.

“Shall I get the mirror?” she asked.

“You remember how to use it?”

She gave him a confident smile and started rifling through the bed and came out with a small compact mirror. She smirked as she caught the sun on the glass and started to work on adjusting it until the light briefly flashed Kimblee in the face.

“That answer your question?” Cassi snarked only to get a glare by Kimblee

“Do it again and the only thing to say you were ever here will be a crater in the sand.”

Cassi gave him a quick salute then scrambled back on top of the truck. She angled the mirror again and flashed it back and forth, silently counting the number of flashes, stopped, then continued.

“Anything?” She asked.

Kimblee had the binoculars held up to his eyes and answered, “yes, they have changed their direction.”

“Now what?” Cassi remained on top of the truck and stared down at the Major.

“Simple,” he smirked, “we lay our trap.”

 

\---

 

The man staggered and Amy had to stop to steady him. “Please hang on just a bit longer. See that light? That’s my sister. They waited for us!” Her eyes were alight with hope. The man’s breathing was ragged and the blood dripped down his face like sweat, but he gave her nod and continued to walk on.

“Why did you come to this war?” The man asked looking down at her from the corner of his eye as she supported his weight. The female was much stronger than he had given her credit for and was easy on the eyes. As a monk he never gave women much thought and this woman made him question his celibacy.

“We didn’t have much of a choice.” Amy said after a moment keeping her head down. How was she supposed to explain the hell she and her twin went through.

“What do you mean no choice? Did your parents not wish to stop you?”

“Our parents are not of this world. When my sister and I traveled here… We were pulled into working for the Amestrians and that was the end of it.”

“So even you do not believe in this war.”

“No one believes in war. Only fools looking for glory would tell you otherwise.” Amy said as she trudged on. As the buzz of the market quieted, Amy finally looked up. The Sun beat unrelentingly upon them, and what look like only a sea of sand awaited them. The man’s steps dragged in the shifting sands.

“Just a bit farther,” she breathed. The blue shimmer in the distance was slowly becoming rectangular in shape.

“This one has no need for encouragement, though it is much appreciated. Ishvala guides me and gives me strength,” the man said with a weary smile as he continued to trudge to the truck. The closer the two made it the more the rectangle took shape. Wheels bloomed from the sand and windows shimmered into existence. Then a stick rose from the sand and a full skirt blew out with a gentle breeze.

Amy caught her second wind at the sight of her sister waving at them. With the man in tow she helped pull him to her sister.

“Cassi!” Amy shouted waving to her sister as she climbed up the sandy hill to the truck.

Cassi waved in response as they reached the top. Amy looked around the truck as she helped her savior to the truck.

“Cassi this is the man who saved me.” Amy smiled. The man nodded his head to Cassi in greeting not really paying the twin much mind.

“Thank you for helping my sister.” Cassi nodded to the man warily before looking back to her sister

“Where is our es…”

Amy froze as she heard a grunt and watched her savior pitch into the sand face first. Turning around, she saw Kimblee pointing his gun at the unconscious man.

“Kimblee! What are you doing?” Amy yelled, turning the man over to start tending to his face.

“What am I? What are you! This man is Ishvalan, the enemy! He could have been holding you hostage and using you to lead the enemy to us! Remember that we were being shot at a few hours ago!” Kimblee yelled signalling at the man’s prone form.

“Sister, he’s right. That man, Scar, he is the enemy and he won’t hesitate to kill us.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Don’t I?!”

“He saved me! The least I could do is show him the same courtesy.” Amy ripped off her headdress and placed it beneath the man’s head to act as a pillow. She glared at the major and Cassi, “if you won’t help me, fine, but I refuse to let him die.”

“He won’t die here, sis. Don’t you see what you’re doing is pointless and will most likely get us killed.” Cassi clasped her hands together then opened her palms, fingers sprayed out. “When he wakes up, we go kaboom. Game over.”

Kimblee threw his hands up in the air.  “We don’t have anymore time for you two to waste. Leave him here, one less to shoot later.”

Amy grabbed a medical kit from the truck bed then hopped down back to the man’s side. “I said I’m not leaving him.”

Cassi muttered under her breath, “I swear we’re all gonna explode.” She knelt beside the man and began to get out fresh bandages as Amy cleaned the wound.

“Insanity is running amok,” Kimblee scowled. “Black 1 and 2, I order you to leave the man. Our mission, the mess of what is left, is over. We have no obligation to this man.” He locked eyes with the twins, “do I have to remind you that helping the enemy is treason?”

“Kimblee, need I remind you that saving this man makes him indebted to us and his religion and God requires him to honor the service of saving his life,” Amy said, glaring up at the alchemist.

“Insanity!” Kimblee yelled, kicking a tire. “If you two want to continue this, throw his body in the truck so at least we can hurry into safe territory.”

“We can’t move him till I fix his stitches. Cassi wash his wounds with the water.”

“Yea like flushing his face is going to change the fact his face is going to give him a namesake.”

“Stop your caterwauling and do it.”

\---

About twenty minutes later they were back on the road. Kimblee had sat in behind the wheel while the twins struggled to lift the six foot man without aggravating his injuries further. His eyes followed Cassi who tossed him a glare when she slid in the truck.

“You could have at least helped,” she huffed.

“Not getting my hands dirty on this one, girl. My orders were to escort you two to and from the medics’ tent.” _And end their meddling_ , he added in his mind. “So that’s what I’m doing. Escorting. What you do with your new pet is your business, so don’t drag me into anything.”

“You’d just deny it anyways.” She shook her head.

“Easy on the bumps!” Amy yelled from the bed.

Kimblee’s eyes flickered to the rearview mirror.

“Is your sister trying to get us all killed? Because that’s what it looks like to me.”

Cassi sighed as she leaned her head back and tried to formulate a proper response for this scenario. It’s not like she could say ‘We know everything! Past, present, and future.’

“Well?”

“My sister feels obligated, the guy apparently saved her from getting killed out there and I’m grateful but at the same time…”

“You would have had no problem if I shot him in the head.”

“I wouldn’t go that far but… yea.” Cassi said leaning her head against the glass and looking at Kimblee from the corner of the eye. The man was cold and calculating; she saw him mentally going through several scenarios before he growled and pulled off to the side of the road.

“Ok that’s it.” Hitting the steering wheel he turned and looked out the window. “What’s your plan Black!”

Amy turned to look at Kimblee in confusion “What?”

“Plan! The thing you do before you drag your twin and escort on a rescue mission for the enemy combatant. The thinking process that you are supposed to do to give a A through Z on what to do. We can not drive on base with him!” Kimblee growled out loosing his cool.

“He’s right Amy what are we going to do with him?”

“He needs medical care. Cassi, I am not going to leave him on the side of the road,” Amy said looking down at her savior.

“And you can’t take him on base either.” She added.

“...Yes I can.”

“And how do you propose we do that.”

\---

“This is a bad fucking plan Amy.” Cassi whispered looking down at the man. They bandaged up his face and skin so it looked as if they were carting around a mummy in the back of their vehicle.

“ETA 5 minutes,” he announced dryly.

Cassi sat in the back of the vehicle holding a water drip while Amy held the man still. Kimblee silently drove towards the base reluctantly.

“Have faith that this will work.”

“It’s going to have to because if not we will be brought in before the firing squad and it’s boom, game over.” Cassi growled back to her twin in irritation. The truck slowed as they approached the sentry’s post. It was a sloppily made hut with a long gate to prevent entry. Yet, the hut was lined with aluminum sheets in case of attack. The sentry stepped out of the hut, rifle pointed at the ground.  

“Halt! State your business.”

Kimblee rolled down the window and shouted back, “Kimblee and Black’s, returning from Humanitarian Nursing station.We are bringing back one injured man.”

“There is nothing in the log about you three leaving to come back with any men,” a soldier called back from the top of the gate.  

“Whitman open the fucking gate!”

“Sir, yes sir. Open the gate!”

As the gate opened, Kimblee could see Colonel Ryan waiting for them. Kimblee gripped the steering wheel a measure tighter as he pulled into the base; Cassi and Amy were a bit tense as well.

“Report.”

“The humanitarian base was destroyed before our arrival,” Kimblee said as he got out of the cab. Looking back at the twins, he nodded as the prepared their stowaway for transfer into the med bay.

“The Ishvalans? Why would they destroy their own medical bay?” Colonel Ryan asked with a concerned look

“We don’t know sir but they are blaming us,” Kimblee replied, going to the back of the truck watching Cassi and Amy prepared to carry the man down and move him to a stretcher.

“What of the humanitarians?” Colonel Ryan looked to the twins and their bandaged man.

“KIA. We pulled this one from the wreckage.” Kimblee nodded to the body.

“One of ours?”

“Yes.,” the lie fell easily from Kimblee’s lips. “He’s a mixed blood”. The Colonel released the twins to care for their patient and asked Kimblee to meet him back in his office. Kimblee sent them a glare before he followed the Colonel.

“What a jerk,” Amy mumbled her her breath. They wheeled the man towards the medbay, praying he wouldn’t wake up in an explosive fit.


	11. XI

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone sorry for the delay due to scheduling conflicts between Kurosawa and I, we had to delay our chapter. We want to thank all our loyal readers because without you we would be lost. Thank you for your support. Beyond the Gate is brought to you by viewers like you.

XI

Ishvalan blood is strong, the stereotypical white hair and red eyes showing up even in the furthest of generations. The twins found out when they began their nursing duties that those who looked Ishvalan were not only housed separately from the other Amestrian soldiers, they couldn’t be treated in the same facility. The head doctor described the situation as “the safety of our Ishvalan-Amestrian brothers”, because it wouldn’t do to have a confused soldier maim another in his pain-induced delirium. The twins never had a chance to serve in the separated med bay, for apparently there was separate staff for that wing. 

The twins wheeled Scar’s stretcher passed the town hall that acted as their med-bay to the house beside it. It used to be a store front until the Amestrian government took over. There were a set of three steps to get into the curtained doorway, with no ramp, the twins had to improvise. Cassi quickly drew an array on the ground, a simple one that Armstrong had taught them and the stairs flattened out into a ramp. It was a rough ramp, the edges of the stairs still stood out but it was better than before.

The store was divided by the main room, a counter and shelves behind it that held a dwindling supply of medicine and other supplies, there was a door across the room which suggested either a storage space or at least another room. The main room was stifling hot, the fans were used for the “true” Amestrians apparently. There weren’t enough beds, so most of the men were either on tables or the floor on blankets or towels. Their groans were low and soft, barely audible over the buzzing of flies. From the doorway, it would be impossible to navigate the room without running over the outstretched limbs. There wasn’t a nurse on duty, she was either in the town hall or taking a break. The girls turned the stretcher and squeezed it between the wall and a table holding another young man. 

Amy swatted a fly from her face, “Sis, there’s gotta be somewhere better than here…”

Cassi wiped her forehead, just pushing the stretcher worked up a sweat. Her eyes shifted over to the man on the table, he was still as stone. She tripped over the wheel of the stretcher as she rushed over to him, fingers searching for his pulse. He was still warm, his  face calm as if still asleep.

“We’re not too late, I’ll need--”

“Don’t waste your time,” Julie, the head nurse leaned against the doorway, a cigarette hung loosely between her red lips. “I’ll get some of the boys to move this one out so you can place your new guy in.”

“He’s still warm, he hasn’t been dead long, with the right equipment we can resuscitate him!” Cassi glared at the older woman who walked over to the table. She took her cigarette and plunged the butt onto the man’s arm. Both Amy and Cassi gasped.

“What are you doing?” They yelled. Amy made a grab at the woman while Cassi slapped the hand with the cigarette. The rolled tobacco smoldered on the ground until its embers died. The nurse looked impatiently at the girls.

“This is why I hate when you young ones come here, prancing about in your uniforms, you have no real knowledge of medicine. This isn’t some singles’ bar, don’t give me that look, I know your type. Young and pretty, wanting to be around the military boys to marry well.” She sneered. “If you were real nurses, you’d know this man has been dead for hours.” 

She yanked Cassi’s hand, as she was the closest and placed it on the man’s forearm right above the black circle of the cigarette burn. “What do you feel girl?”

Cassi glared at the nurse with a fire as she pulled her arm away from the nurse. “I feel some one who can be saved if you gave enough of a damn. Now let go of me there will be no more smoking in this med bay. If you don’t mind I need you step away from my patients.” The woman glared and turned her heel not paying any mind to any of the men in the room. 

“Cass…”

“I don’t care. I will not stand for this injustice for any of them. Pack in we are going to have a long night. ” Cassi ordered over her shoulder as she set to work to attempt to resuscitate the man. If she couldn’t succeed then God willed it but at least she had tried.  

\---

Cassi spent 10 minutes attempting to resuscitate the man before she gave up. The man had gone cold, his body rigid to the touch as if carved from stone rather than flesh and bone. Further investigation of his body showed signs of internal bleeding, something the other nurse would have seen if she took the time to tend to all the men. 

“Fucking bitch,” she growled out as she carefully covered the man and wheeled his body out and looked to all the men in various states of distress. There was so much work to be done and they could not do it all alone. 

“This is ridiculous Cassi there are only two of us we need at least three other nurses.” Amy said as she rush from one soldier to the next. The men were packed into this small building like sardines.

“That’s it I’ve had enough,” Cassi said throwing down her hat as she turned to her twin. “Amy go get Alexander and Olivier tell them that this is an emergency. When you are done get all the supplies that we were going to transfer and bring them in here. I don’t care if the doctors or other nurses give you shit about it, hold a gun to them if you have to but I will not stand for these horrible conditions,” Cassi said as she watched her twin leave the building in a rush. 

“Alright listen up soldiers! I understand you are all in pain but I am going to need the assistance of any one of you whom is able-bodied! I want every soldier who can move assist me in clearing out this building for when Major Armstrong arrives we will be doing some renovations to this building and will be matching the accommodations of the rest of our soldiers. Everyone here will be seen and treated,” Cassie called out. Four men slowly got up, their bandages dark with blood and whatever other foulness from not being kept clean and sterile. They helped Cassi who took to giving stern directions as they assisted her in removing every body and useful bit of equipment from the building. 

“Cassiopeia Black, what in the name of Alchemy are you doing?” Alexander stood back as he watched the woman order injured men from the building. 

“Finally! Alexander I need your skills.” 

“My skills?” Alexander Armstrong looked at the small force of nature before him in confusion as she started to go into full detail on what she wanted. She wanted a large building comparable, if not better than, the Town hall-turned-med-bay. 

“What’s wrong with the building you have here?” he asked only to see the fire in her eyes burn brighter. 

“Alexander I have 40-70 men in various states of injury out here at this very moment. They cannot all be treated in this building and for their safety I will not have them be treated by the racist in the other building. Now you will either help me or see me injured as I attempt to perform the alchemy on my own. Now what will it be?” she bit out. Alex nodded as he walked to the building and set to work performing the alchemy.

Olivier arrived to watch the building light up with the telltale glow of alchemy. Various men stood outside watching the building morph and reshape, growing in length and width. Armstrong sweat as the building was formed from sand rock and various surrounding material stealing wood and even scavenging from the unused shacks surrounding the old shop. 

“What is going on?” Olivier asked as the building was completed, standing tall in the ever prolific Armstrong Fashion of ‘Go big or Go Home’. The building was pressed stone with designs painting the outside in various shades of tan and orange. Columns of white made the building bright and were contrasted with their painted arched windows. On closer inspection, the walls were beautifully carved geometrical patterns. Pillars and screen doors and shutters left the building open to the coming breezes keeping the rooms with circulating air. The roof was domed to help reflect heat from the building.  

“There, a Medical building fitting to the culture of the land.” Alex stated proudly, as he folded his arms and turned around, sparkling light flickering around him.

“Alex this is not a med bay this is a palace.” Cassi laughed as she turned to the men in need of medical attention who stared at the building in a sort of reverence. Looking to the  building, she smiled at the ramp Armstrong had the forethought to add. 

“Black what is going on?” Olivier asked as she furrowed her brow. 

“The building and conditions were condemnable. Lt. Colonel these are our men! Our soldiers and I refuse to have them being treated in poor conditions.” Cassi passionately replied to her commanding officer. Olivier paused before turning to look at all of the men in various deplorable states of distress. Her face cold as she pursed her lips for a few minutes. 

“What do you need?” she asked watching Cassi move before the men and move from one man to the next. 

“I need more medical supplies, a few doctors for professional treatment, and beds. These men do not need to be packed together on the floor.”  Cassi said as Olivier started to order her brother to make the necessary beds so each man could be rolled in. Able men were ordered to collect spare wood and old sacks of cloth from sheds and buildings which Armstrong upcycled with his alchemy to produce rolling beds. Like a well oiled machine, Olivier would move men placed on stretchers into their new med bay, much to the joy of the men. They were lit alive by the clean and open conditions. 

The commotion drew a crowd, as other soldiers came to watch the new scene. Various murmurs of shock came from the White soldiers as they watched injured Ishvalans be rolled into the new building. 

“What is the meaning of this?” Cassi turned around to see two doctors and a few nurses, including Nurse Julie, step out to watch the procession. 

“What are you doing wasting valuable resources on these men,!” 

“Sir these are Our men. Our soldiers! They are as much Amestrians as everyone here!”

Olivier glared at the medical staff, “we cannot have soldiers who sacrificed themselves for this cause to be treated so deplorably.” She raised her voice so everyone could hear, “if the medical staff can’t perform their duty, then you can go home.”

“What?” the doctor’s skin flushed red, “you need us!”

A nurse stood beside doctor. “Who do you think patches you up so you can live to fight another day?”

“You were given a direct order, and all I hear is useless whining.” Olivier covered the distance between the medical team in a few strides. The doctor glared down at her, the gleam of sweat streaked across his pale brow. In a flash, Olivier had her sword at the man’s throat. Her cool blue eyes narrowed, “I do not take insubordination without reason lightly.”

“This is insanity!” another doctor yelled. Further cries of outrage were silenced by the crack of a shot. The crowd froze and all turned towards the sound. Colonel Ryan stood at the back of the crowd, his gun pointed skywards. He carried a bored expression on his face. Once everyone quieted down, he holstered his weapon. He took in the scene, the angry doctors and nurses, Olivier with her sword at the man’s throat, the younger Armstrong looking strained, and Cassi Black glaring defiantly at the medical staff. 

“Lt. Colonel Armstrong, care to explain why you are moments from beheading one of our doctors, mind you, our medical personnel are limited in number.”

“Gladly, Colonel Ryan,” she decreased the pressure on the man’s throat. A thin trickle of blood formed when the blade moved. “The medical staff have hidden the wretched conditions of the separate Ishvalan medical facility. These men were victims of neglect and malpractice--”

“Malpractice? I’ll have you know I was the best surgeon in my graduating class!” cried the doctor. 

Colonel Ryan held up a hand to show he had enough. He glanced at the newly improved building. “I see that you’ve taken it upon yourselves to rectify the disparity.”

“Of course Colonel, we cannot let our comrades be treated in such a manner.” 

The Colonel studied the doctors and nurses. The other soldiers that have gathered all awaited his decision.

“I am surprised that my staff has had to take it upon themselves to rectify what they felt was a problem.” He stated turning to examine condition of the soldiers still waiting patiently to go inside. 

“Doctor tell me how long does it take for you to stitch a wound?” he asked turning to look at the Doctor with the sword to his throat. 

“Depending on the severity and the precision needed 10 minutes to an hour.”

“I see. That amount of skill and precision is to be admired. And Doctor today, how many men have you stitched up or still need stitching?” he asked walking closer looking pointedly to Olivier to lower her weapon. Olivier narrowed her eyes before sheathing her sword.

“Thank-you sir. I have stitched 4 men today and none need further stitching it has been a rather calm day. I have had the time to see to the bedside care of some of the other men that have been healing.”

“I see that is rather admirable of you seeing to the wellbeing of our soldiers.”

“Of course sir it's important to see to the well-being of the men that fight so valiantly to protect us here in this god forsaken desert.”

“I couldn’t agree more Doctor and that’s why I am appalled at how you have been performing your duties.” Colonel Ryan bit out as he grabbed the doctor by his coat and dragged him to the nearest injured man before pushing him forward. “Tell me doctor, why this man has not been treated?”

The man was mixed Ishvalan with brown hair but red eyes, he lay on the table sweating. Closer inspection showed  his left leg was wrapped tightly at the knee, the rest of the leg exposed but severely discolored. The man would more than likely lose his leg if he was not treated soon. A distinct smell came from his bed of sweat, blood, and defecation which made the doctor back away in disgust. 

“Is this man not one of our soldiers? Does he not deserve the same care and respect as all my other men?” Colonel Ryan yelled at the doctor before turning to the rest of the crowd. 

“I am your Colonel and leader here at this camp and you will all listen. The medical staff will be evenly split between both buildings and they will treat the patients within. I do not care if these men are white, black, or purple with green spots you will treat them and you will treat them well. Any doctor or nurse not performing their duties will be committing treason and will be brought to the range and shot for their inaction.” Colonel Ryan turned to the Doctor and stared. 

“Have I made myself clear?”

“Crystal clear sir.”

“Good that being said, Lt. Colonel Armstrong I am assigning you to the new building made specifically for our Amestrian-Ishvalan brothers. Make sure the staff performs their duties with the utmost care. I want to make certain our medical staff perform their duties as they should and nothing is changed the moment I am not around to monitor the situation.” Turning on his heel, he watched as Amalthea Black ordered a few new soldiers to bring supplies towards the new building. 

“What is the meaning of this? Those are Amestrian resources!” A nurse called out forcing Colonel Ryan to pause before he turned around again. 

“Madam did you not just hear me. These men will be treated. To be treated means that they will have the same resources as you. You both will share the same resources, medicine, and staff. You will rotate between both buildings to make sure everyone receives equal care.”

“You can not force me to treat the enemy. I have right to not help those who I don’t see fit.” The woman glared, her eyes held a pure fire against the Ishvalans which made Colonel Ryan stand straighter and pull out his gun, pointing it at the woman. 

“I am very sorry to hear you say that. In that case...” A loud crack echoed through the courtyard as the woman slumped to the ground. “I do hope that this example was a sufficient enough warning to the rest of you.” He glared as he stepped over the woman's corpse continuing on his way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Readers make your voice heard. Please Comment, Kudo and Subscribe.


	12. XII

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Happy New Years! Kurosawa-san and I wanted to get these two chapters out by Christmas but instead felt the new chapters would be a great start to the new year!. Late Christmas and early El Dia de Los Reyes (Three kings Day Jan 6.) Happy Holidays and enjoy!

XII

Alex looked down at the body on the ground in shock before he heard his sister snap the men to attention. 

“Alright you maggots, you heard the Colonel! I want this hospital fully functional before the end of the day.” Olivier turned to the medical staff and scrutinized each of them individually. “I want all medical personnel in this courtyard in the next five minutes who are not already occupied with another patient. You will follow this order or find yourself like your colleague in the dirt. Go find the rest of your team and bring them back here immediately. Dismissed!” 

The doctors and nurses took off in tears. Some stoneface and determined, rather than leave, took up ranks to help assist Amy and Cassi with the final few Ishvalan-Amestrian men and getting them taken into the building. As the courtyard cleared, Olivier turned to her brother and saw him slowly approaching the body of the nurse and lifting her up with more care then she felt the woman deserved. 

“Was it…”

“Alex?”

“...Was it necessary?” Alex asked coolly, staring at the body in his arms.

“That is not for you to question Alex,” Olivier said.

“That is a load of malarky, Olivier! This woman had no reason to die today!” Alex yelled, holding the body close to him as tears flowed down his face. His blue eyes glared at his sister and his face flushed as he lost himself to righteous anger. 

“Major, remember your rank. What others find unnecessary is what is needed to maintain order. Man up Major, Armstrongs do not get emotional. You would do well to remember to lay your emotions aside,” Olivier said coolly, passing her brother by.

“You would do well to find yours, lest you remain a heartless wretch and lose out on loved ones,” Alex bit out at his sister's passing form. Olivier paused, her head slightly tilted towards her younger brother before she stood straighter and walked swiftly towards the building to wait for her doctors and nurses.

-BTG-

Olivier stared down the line of doctors and nurses and looked each up and down. 

“You are all now under my orders, no matter which building you are in. You all answer to me. You do not eat, breathe, sleep, or shit without my say so. You have all grown complacent in your positions and that stops now,” Olivier said, as she marched down the line before pivoting to march back. 

Out of the corner of her eye, she watched the Black Twins going over a list away from the rest of the staff. The two looked from the list to the doctors, then from the list to the injured bodies. Olivier glared at the medical personnel before stepping away to monitor the progress the Twins had made.

“Blacks.”

“Lt. Col. Armstrong.”

“Report.”

“We gathered a list on the injuries and the amount of men we need to perform some form of surgery or invasive procedure,” Amy said, looking down at the list. 

“Unfortunately, from the looks of this list, we are going to need every one of those doctors and nurses to stay here for the next foreseeable future which is just not possible,” Cassi said, as she looked to the staff calculatingly. 

“What do you girls recommend? We will go with your recommendation.” Olivier turned, looking to the waiting group. 

“Tell two doctors and nurses to return to the other building.” Amy handed her list to Olivier.

“The rest have to scrub up,” Cassi finished, as she watched her twin make her retreat towards the men whom needed attending.

“Good work.” Olivier advanced on the medical personnel, it was going to be a long night.

-BTG-

Olivier growled as she punched one of the walls. They had lost six men during surgery, not for a lack of effort or misconduct either. Time had just run out for those men. She bore witness to infection and pisspoor slap job work from other doctors that needed to be reopened and fixed. The men were dirty and some had lay in their own waste for days before the remodeling of the medbay. She watched nurses lose lunch as wounds were reopened to be cleaned and the sour sweet smell of rotting flesh filled the air during amputations. 

Olivier’s heart chilled her as she watched men give up before her eyes. They did not scream as their arms or legs were separated from them or their bodies were opened without anesthetic. They did not cry as their wounds were reopened to release the pus, insects, or disease from their flesh. The did not wince, tear, cry, or even bellow as someone else’s hand maneuvered around inside them to clean away the rotting meat and infection. No these soldiers watched with a fire in their eyes and heart to the last second. Then, as they lost the battle within, as the fire died to embers, the quirk of their lips took a quarter turn as their bodies went slack.

Olivier winced as she looked down at her hand, she had scraped her knuckles. She watched her flesh pucker before releasing a few drops of blood which she covered with her other hand. 

“I’m sure the wall didn’t do anything to you,” a raspy voice stated from behind her. 

Olivier turned in shock to find an Ishvalan-Amestrian leaning back in chair with a half turned smirk on his face. 

“If anyone asks ‘bout the scrape, tell them you punched a doc in the face. It will be sure to be an amusing story; considering one of the doc’s slipped in Fullson’s puke and went face first into a wall; bastard’s got a lovely shiner.” The man grinned.

“Intriguing. I will be sure to make a note of that…”

“Sergeant Major Miles. I’d salute but...” The man said, giving a half raise of his arm. “Forearm fracture. Nothing too serious but a right bitch when the incompetent hacks here don’t provide proper treatment.” The man leaned back.

“What happened?”

“My team was on the front and we got ambushed. We were under fire when one of those young bastards you like to give us decided to make a run; he got separated from us and the rest of the team. We went for a retreat and I went after the idiot. Some young kid, I’d say 16, just a private trying to prove he could handle himself. I was pulling him away through the random explosions. One second we were turning left and the next we got blown sky high. Kid lost both his legs but he’s still breathing. He’s getting an award for returning to battle to save a comrade.”

“They are awarding him for your bravery,” Olivier said, in shock.

“Oh yeah. It’s a thankless job being a red-eye in the Amestrian Military. Plenty of the men you saw today have done the exact same thing. We are the ones who run back in for the white men when others turn tail and run. Someone needs to bring something back for the families.” Miles got up and looked out the window. In the distant night, flashes of light and smoke were rising. “We are far enough away not to hear it but I can still hear the screaming of orders and the sound of gunfire.”

Olivier stepped up to the window and saw the rise of smoke miles away.

“The men here, we mostly are sent on the suicide missions. We are not expected to return. We joined this war to protect our country. Not for Ishval, though we look plenty like our red-eyed counterparts. We are here for Amestris, for most of us, it is the only home we’ve ever known. I’m a second generation Ishvalan-Amestrian. Only a quarter of me is Ishvalan, that's from my father's side. My Grandfather's blood runs strong in me, hence,” he signalled to his eyes. 

“Why stay then? You have been injured, you could return home.” Olivier turned to look at the man.  

“I will not run home with my tail between my legs because I am getting treated unfairly. I am a man of honor Lt. Colonel Armstrong. I will just push twice, if not three times, as hard to prove myself. I signed up for this war willingly. I’m sure you have faced similar challenges being a female in the military,” Miles said, as he rubbed his chin feeling his stubble. “I’m sorry if you will excuse me ma’am, I need to find myself the John and a razor.” He stepped away from the window. 

“Srgt. Major.” Olivier nodded to the man.

“ Lt. Colonel.”

-BTG-

“What’s on your mind Oli?” 

“Nothing Patrick and don’t call me Oli.” 

Olivier rested her chin on the slightly fuzzy chest of Colonel Patrick Ryan. Her fingers ghosted across his chest as she sighed. Patrick’s hand ran up and down her arm as a light sheet barely covered the waist of the two. 

“Olivier, what is going on in that beautiful mind of yours?” he asked, as he tilted his head to look at the woman curled into his side. Normally, she was stern and cool but in the privacy of this little shack she was relaxed. She nuzzled her face into the crook of his shoulder and leaned in to give him a lingering kiss. She stared into his eyes.

“You know what is on my mind.”

“Oli...Olivier, we’ve talked about this. I’ll leave her as soon as this fuckshow of a war is over.”

“And how long do you think that is going to be? I’ve been waiting three years Patrick. Three years and we are still no closer to winning this war than when we arrived!” She sat up and crossed her arms over her voluptuous chest. Colonel Ryan sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He brushed his fingers on her arm and trailed up to her shoulders. His fingers massaged the tensed muscles of her neck. A slight moan escaped her lips.

“Olivier, my tigress,” he leaned in and kissed her shoulder blade. “For now, can’t we just live in the moment? We never know when it will be one of us under the tarp.”

She remained silent, so Patrick continued his barrage of feather light kisses from her back, to her neck, to the sensitive area below her ear. A cold fear crept up his neck. She couldn’t be pregnant. Could she? He thought back to when they began their affair. They had used a variety of contraceptives over the years: withdrawal, condoms, and even the spermicidal jelly he bought from shady a merchant back in Central. Normally, he wouldn’t make deals with those types, he was a Colonel after all, but apparently several military men were using it; came highly recommended too. It was said it was more effective that the regular spermicides, plus the sponges had really killed the mood, so Patrick took whichever alternatives he could. Yet, looking back, black market products weren’t always the most reliable and it wasn’t like he could sue the guy for an ineffective product to use on a woman that was not his wife. 

He hugged her tightly. They had taken all precautions but her silence scared him. What would he do if she were pregnant? They risked being court-martialed if their relationship ever came to light. The Armstrong family name would be tarnished, her having not only a child out of wedlock but from an adulterous relationship as well. He couldn’t leave Marsha and the girls, not until he was sure he would keep custody of his children. He knew she was tiring from his excuses but there was nothing he could do while stuck out here in the boondocks.

He rested his chin on her shoulder and gently asked, “Now, tell me what’s really bothering you?”

She snorted at how well he knew her. “It’s Alex…” she leaned back against Patrick’s strong chest. He would never have the glorious physique that has been passed down the Armstrong line for generations, but for her he was enough. 

“Oh?” he tried to mask the surprise in his voice.

“He was upset at the nurse’s passing, asked if it was necessary.”

“And you share his disapproval of my methods?”

“No, sir.”

He frowned, he hated it when she fell back into her subordinate role. He thought after threes years of their relationship (if he could call it that) would have conditioned her otherwise. She noticed the slip and glanced away.

“Do I...push you away?”

“Pardon?”

A hand reached up to play with her tell-tale Armstrong curl. “It’s nothing.” And her defenses were up again. Patrick shifted so they could see eye to eye. He lifted Olivier’s chin when she turned away from him.

“No.”

Her eyes widened by a fraction.

**He repeated the word more forcefully. “Never ever in a million eons could you push me away, Olivier Mira Armstrong. Sure you could be difficult, or somewhat reserved, but you are you and that’s what I love about you.” Patrick smiled and planted a kiss on her forehead. “Come, let’s get some sleep, tomorrow is going to be hell.” **


	13. XIII

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Happy Holidays from us to you! Here is our extra gift to all our loyal readers.

XIII

Olivier glared down at a pile of paperwork, her head rested against her left hand as she looked down at the names on her list. There was a miscalculation somewhere. She ran through the numbers left and right but somehow one of these men on her list was missing. It was not entirely too surprising, with the war throwing bombshells off in the distance and the constant flow of men in and out of her building, but it was unsettling.

In the past three weeks, the new medical building ran like a well oiled machine due to her steadfast orders and strategy with her staff. It was soon that more men left the building alive rather than dead and she was proud of the accomplishment. She made sure her staff was not worked to madness and that all the men in her care were well cared for. Her best helpers came not just from the staff but some of the recovering men who wanted to offer assistance. 

Sergeant Major Miles was becoming a useful colleague around the med bay, he assisted where he could and kept up the spirits of the men. Olivier came to depend on him as a sort of assistant, lending a hand with her paperwork and issuing her commands when she was busy with more pressing matters. One of these pressing matters was this list of men in her care not matching to the used resources. She could not understand what was missing.

Olivier looked up in surprise as a plate suddenly appeared in her line of vision blocking her list. Looking from the tray and up an arm into a face she was no all to surprised to see the Black twins in front of her desk 

“Food is fuel Lt.Colonel Armstrong.”

“Sergeants Black.”

The twins nodded as they turned to step away. Olivier watched as they began their retreat before she was hit with a bit of an epiphany

“Blacks, I have a duty for you.” 

-BTG-

“How are we going to fix this!”

Cassi turned sharply to her sister who stood redressing the wound on Scar’s face. The man had stayed in deep sleep for the past month as his face and various other wounds were healing. The scaring on his face were now immensely lighter to what they were previously. The wounds were kept clean and covered during the healing process so the lines were faint instead of sharp, puckered flesh.

“Shhhh stop, if you get agitated he might wake up scared and we don’t need the entire building blown to bits because you could not stay calm!”  Cassi hissed to her sister as she looked towards the open door to the sectioned off room. She walked away from the bedside and poked her head out of the room to check for listeners. Looking down the hall on either side, she took hold of the knob and closed the door.

“Anyone?” Amy looked worried as she rested a hand on Scar’s shoulder.

Cassi shook her head before she turned from her twin and walked towards the window looking out on the courtyard. 

“We just need to forge some documentation,” Cassi said

“Forge! Cassi, are you listening to yourself? Why can’t we replace him with one of the fallen soldiers? Just say he’s someone that died.”

“Too risky. We run the risk someone knows he is not that person. We just need to give him a cover identity,” Cassi said, as her eyes narrowed at a man walking towards the building. 

“All I need is a distraction and I will make the paperwork in Colonel Ryan’s office.”

“Oh and what are you going to do?”

“Well I’m going to create a paper trail through the dead solider files. A few missions here, training from there, and finish it off with a image of a solider that looks close enough to be his face before his...accident. No one will be the wiser.”

“Cassi, this is not all to great of an idea; he doesn’t even have a name!” Amy looked at her sister like she had finally stepped off the deep end. There were too many issues with this plan and she did not risk everything to try and save Scar only for him to meet the business side of a rifle. 

“Heidrich,....um Basil… Basil Heidrich.”

“Heidrich….As in Alphonse….and Basil as in the...Mouse Detective...Are you insane?”

“No, but now he has a name. He can be… 3rd Gen Amestrian through his mother's side and from Risembool hence the hand written paperwork. He’s an orphan and we can vouch for him because he’s from our town. There backstory made.”

“You really do not see the flaw in your reasoning do you?”

“Sis there is no flaw because no one pays attention to these men. They are used as cannon fodder and meat shields. He can pass, we just need to make sure when we go on leave he comes with us.”

“Cassi sometimes I worry about your mental stability.”

“I’m not crazy, mother had us tested.”

Amy shook her head, “fine whatever. Just tell me what I have to do.”

-BTG-

Maes entered the new Ishvalan Med Bay, and it still impressed him every time he entered. The attention to detail was amazing, and the fact that it was built in a matter of seconds blew his mind. He ran a hand over the smooth wall. Alchemy; Roy called it a science but it was all sorcery to him, how could all this be explained otherwise? Some of the soldiers nodded to him as he passed, he was a common sight among these halls.

“Hey, LT.” Sergeant Major Miles greeted him with a grin and a wave which Maes reciprocated.

“Hey yourself.” He joined Miles as he helped a fellow soldier into bed. 

“Lay off the leg, Mac, I’m warning you.” The man waved him away and promised. Miles turned to Maes, “you’re not on schedule today.” Maes was never on the rotation schedule, but like most of the volunteers who lacked a medical license, he offered a hand whenever he could. He guessed this was why he and Miles got on well, besides the fact they sometimes ogled the nurses as they shared a smoke.

Miles wiggled his eyebrows, “I bet you’re here for your favorite nurse.”

Maes feigned innocence, “what me? No I came to share my love with all my Amestrian brothers.”

Miles pat him on the shoulder and pointed towards the back of the med bay. “She’s in the back, probably checking on that comatose man.” He smirked, “careful she doesn’t dump you for some darker meat.”

Maes laughed along with Miles and made his way towards the back. That scarred man was part of the issue he had with the twins. As always, it was just a hunch, his intuition nagged at him. That man was the only one who was kept separate from the rest. Whenever he inquired why, the twins would share a slight glance and he knew the words that followed were straight lies. The scarred man’s bed was the only one without a chart or name tag, and no other nurses were allowed near him. 

Maes had casually asked the other nurses about this fact, and they didn’t seem too concerned about it. They played it off as a deterrence to any panic attack the man might have, which seemed to be a common occurrence during wartimes. He stopped a few paces from the closed door.

“Will that even work?”

“It will, trust me.” The door opened and Maes ran into the woman that came out. She stumbled and he grabbed her around the waist.

“My dear Cassi, it seems like I have you falling for me.”

She blushed and pulled herself out of his arms. “Sorry, but I don’t have time now, Lieutenant.”

“But you’re just the woman I wanted to see!” he moved to pull out his memo pad and flipped through some of the pages.

“So sorry Lt. Hughes, but I’m actually in a rush....to uh see Oli- I mean Lt. Colonel Armstrong. Can’t keep her waiting.” she sped past him.

Maes watched her rush away with a furrowed brow as he turned to the room and opened the door. Inside, Amy was fussing over the unconscious man. He raised his brow as he pasted on a grin.

“Well, well if it isn’t the beautiful Ms. Amy Black.”

“Oh Hughes, you incorrigible flirt, my sister just ran out the door. What is it I can help with you with?”

“You wound me Amy.” Hughes put his hand over his chest as he lifted his notebook. 

“I take it you are here to get some information on my patient,” Amy said shrewdly, as she brushed off her skirt and turned to him. 

“What gave it away?” He asked innocently only for Amy to laugh pointing at his notebook. 

“Well mind if I get just the basics: name, rank, where he’s from?”

-BTG-

Cassi ran up to the Colonel's office and slowly creaked open the door peeking inside. Seeing the room empty she breathed a sigh of relief as she rushed over to the filing cabinets.

“If I was a empty form where would I be?” Cassi muttered, as she opened several drawers and peeked through several files. If there was one aspect Cassi really appreciated, it was that Colonel Ryan was an organized man and there were only three cabinets to go through to find the correct paperwork. 

Cassi looked through the files till she pulled out the familiar neatly clipped stack of new recruits’ paperwork.

“Paperwork, check,” she whispered, as she continued to muddle through the cabinets and files on his desk before her foot hit a stack. Looking on the floor, she saw several stacks of files piled up with a red stamped word:

-DECEASED-

Cassi kneeled down to look through the stacks till she found the pile of Ishvalan- Amestrian men and started flipping through them in quick succession. Each file seemed to be much smaller than the ones of the White Amestrians, and as she looked through them, she realized why. Their files just held the bare-bone basics of who they were and familial lines of how far back their Ishvalan blood went. Their medical records were what packed their file the most with how often they were sent to the medic bay and why. They were not expected to receive any leave and most of these men received no honors or awards. They were being kept stunted in the position of basic infantrymen. 

Not wanting to waste any time on comments, Cassi took four files of the deceased men and her blank paperwork over to the desk to begin her forgery. She did not have any time to dilly- dally through the paperwork. 

“Alright, Basil Heidrick, let’s make your story,” she muttered 

-BTG-

“So let’s recap. You know...”

“Basil.”

“Right, Basil from your hometown...”

“In Risembool.”

“Yes… and he is half --”

“A quarter Ishvalan from his mother’s side. He’s a third generation Ishvalan-Amestrian and he wanted to join the war to protect his country. He is an orphan and he recently lost a brother, last I heard. I would gauge him as about twenty years old, honestly, it has been a few years since I’ve seen him, plus it’s not like we were close or anything. Yes, he is religious and follows the Code of Ishval like some of the men in this building. No, he is not married.  Honestly, Hughes you have me talking in circles, if you want to know anything about his file or battles he has been in you will have to talk to him when he wakes up or check his file with Colonel Ryan,” Amy said, in frustration. She knew he was trying to catch her in a lie but after the past hour of going over a fictitious life story with Hughes, she was exhausted but at least she had the damn thing memorized. 

Maes looked her up and down before he put his notebook away and sighed. 

“Well, Ms. Black thank-you for your time I will be going now,” he said as he turned around and walked towards the exit his mind on the information that the Black twin relayed to him. He caught the beautiful ice queen herself strolling towards him and stopped to salute.

“At ease, Lieutenant.”

Maes made a show of glancing over her shoulder, he gave a little sigh. “I was hoping Sergeant Black would return with you.”

Olivier rose a delicate eyebrow, “why would she be with me? I’m not her keeper. She was supposed to report to the clinic right after training.”

“Is that right?” he forced a smile, “I must have just missed her. Sorry for taking up your time, I’m sure you’re a busy woman.”

She huffed and left without another glance. Maes stared after her retreating figure, it seemed the Black Twins were on to him after all. 

I might just have to take a peek at Heidrich’s service record, he thought, as he changed direction towards Colonel Ryan’s office. There weren’t many people around the Officers’ Quarters, there weren’t many of them in the first place. If he recalled correctly, Ryan’s office was the first room on his left. Maes grasped the door handle and opened the door quickly. Cassi froze, her eyes wide. She was leaning over one of the file cabinets, a thin file in her hand. The file was half-way in the cabinet, but the real question was she taking it out or placing in back in?

He narrowed his eyes and stepped fully into the room. “Now, I hate to be the one to ask, but why are you in your CO’s office, and what are you doing with that file?”

Cassi pulled the file out slowly and held it to her chest. “Colonel Ryan...asked for this file.” 

He saw she was a bit shaken, her eyes wouldn’t meet his and she held the file tightly. 

“I better get this to him, he said it was urgent.” She tried to step around him but he blocked her path with his arm. He glared at her.

“You didn’t meet with the Lt. Colonel.”

“I didn’t. Colonel Ryan caught me and told me to look for this file.”

“You spent an hour looking for a file?” he didn’t hide the dubious tone in his voice.

Cassi huffed and gestured angrily at the piles of files on the floor and the filing cabinets. “I had to go through each one! So yeah, it took me an hour.”

She ducked under his arm but he grabbed her wrist and plucked the file from her fingers.

“Hey! Give it back!” 

Maes held the file above his head like a bully in the school playground. He flipped the file open and the name “Basil Heidrich” jumped out to him. Him again. What was the mystery behind this man? Maes skimmed the file, Cassi gave up fighting him as he slipped through the papers. 

“Can I have the file now?”

Maes flipped back to the front page where a picture of the man was clipped on. He stared hard at the face. “This is Basil Heidrich?”

“Yes, can’t you read? Now please hand it over.”

“The face is all wrong, this isn’t the man in the coma.”

“Of course it is!”

“No, the man I saw had a thinner, angular face. This man has a rounder face. Not all Ishvalans look alike, and the fact that you are trying to pass that scarred man as this man, reveals your immature way of thinking--”

“The man’s been in a coma for almost a month! He hasn’t eaten solid food, of course his face looks thinner.” She moved to snatch the file from him but he held it out of reach again.

“As your superior officer, I’ll hold onto this.”

Cassi straightened her posture, “fine then. Then you’ll explain to the Colonel why he doesn’t have the stupid file.” She marched out of the room with purpose and it almost made Maes reconsider his action. He glanced down at the file in his hand and his gaze was drawn to a black smudge on his thumb. He flipped through the file and sure enough, there was a long black smear on one of the pages.

**“Fresh ink…” he chuckled. “I’ve got you now, Sergeant Black.” **


	14. XIV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope all you loyal readers had a fantastic holiday. Kurosawa and I hope you enjoy this next installment. Don't forget to Review, Kudo and Subscribe.

XIV

“So to recap these accusations, Lt. Hughes,” Colonel Ryan stated, as he looked down at the paperwork in front of him. The lieutenant stood at attention in front of his desk. He listened to the _ report  _ that the man gave him and he longed for a steaming cup of coffee after listening to his bullshit.

“You are claiming that Sergeants Black are running a conspiracy with fraudulent paperwork on an Ishvalan spy posing as an Ishvalan-Amestrian soldier.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. He could be anywhere in the world right now; at home with his daughters comforting them after he kicks out his slut of a wife and fires his driver, both actions were at the top of his to do list once he got his leave. Instead, here he was, listening to conspiracy theories. 

“Yes sir.”

“And not only are Sergeants Black running the conspiracy but you are further claiming that Major Kimblee knew of this fraud and is going along with it.” Now that was a bit of a stretch by any form of the imagination, in his opinion anyway. His majors were some of the most disciplined men under his command, but to believe that Major Kimblee would be subject to falling under conspiracy was a further stretch than the probability of those girls being spies. 

“Yes Sir.”

“Finally, your largest and most outrageous accusation...”

“Sir?”

“You are claiming that Sergeants Black are involved in some governmental conspiracy at large and are not whom claim to be and are gathering intel and posing as soldiers here. Have I hit every point Lieutenant?

“Yes sir. I also brought you the file on the soldier that still had fresh ink.”

The calm confidence in the man’s eyes pissed him off. Colonel Ryan folded his hands on the desk, mostly as a sign of restraint from strangling the young man before him. Ryan took a deep breath.

“Ah yes, the proof. Lieutenant, do you know what the Sergeants regularly perform here between working as soldiers?”

“Nursing duties.”

“Yes, nursing duties, which requires they perform regular updates with medical paperwork. They write reports and they file it. When I am not in the office they file it themselves to take up some of the duties that I have been unable to perform.” Colonel Ryan leaned back in his seat. “The page you smeared was a report she was filing on the soldier's health.”

“And the other pages sir?”

“The soldier in question has only been under my command for a year.”

“His face…”

“Has new scarring and he has been in a coma. Most of my soldiers look vastly different between arrival and now. War changes you. Men who once had the comfort of eating whatever they wanted become leaner through training and a strict diet. ”

“What about their evidence from their conversations?”

“Heresay.”

“Sir.”

“Get out.”

Hughes blinked. “Pardon, sir?”

“I said, get out,” he growled. “I won’t have some fucking cockchafer strutting in here and slandering the names of good soldiers. Those three have been here from the beginning while you were kissing ass at the academy. They fought and bled along with all the other grunts out there, so excuse me if I don’t have time for this nonsensical bullshit you’ve been shoveling. This is your last warning, Lieutenant, get your ass out of my sight before yank those stripes and stars and have you on latrine duty for the entirety of this fucking war.”

When the man didn’t move, just stood there with his mouth hanging open like an idiot, the Colonel slammed a fist on his desk. The water bottle on his desk tittered off and fell to the ground. “I said now, Lieutenant!”

 

-BTG-

 

“I still can’t believe you went to the Colonel with all this…” Roy had flipped through Maes’ notebook as the writer leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. Roy was shocked when he found the man pacing earlier in their quarters red in frustration.

“Mustang, I’m not pulling this out of my ass, the twins are suspicious!” Maes growled out, as he looked out of a window. Far out in the courtyard he watched two figures sparring. From his window, they looked like fleas bouncing at each other and hopping away in rapid succession. 

“I’m not saying that they are not but if what you claim is true...” he shook his head, “it's too far of a stretch.”

“Too far?”

“Yes. Think of it from the Colonel’s point of view. As much as I do not like the Terror Twins, the two have been here long before us. He has a point while we were in the cushy seats of the academy, the twins have been here in the trenches. So you need something far more concrete than a book of heresay.”

“What would you recommend?”

“How about documents?”

“I showed the colonel a document.”

“You showed him a smeared medical form that the twins wrote as part of their duties. I mean a more concrete documentation filed by someone else. If you you want to prove they are suspicious used the proof of suspicion in your favor through others’ suspicion. Remember if you have a feeling someone, else more than likely has had one too,” Roy said, as he smacked his hand against the notebook. 

Hughes turned to Roy as he thought about the possibility of documentation. However, how he would find a paper trail for the twins would be a lot harder. He would have to bide his time and keep his thoughts to himself for a while. 

“What kind of documentation would you suggest?”

“Well, inter squad complaints are documented but considering their gender the girls have been kept separated from the men. I would also be wary on most of the complaints from males on base anyway. Most of their complaints have been proven unfounded and based solely on sexism which may well be another reason why the Colonel did not take you seriously,” Roy said, as he took the book and laid in his cot. 

“I would check their records then trail them through the train manifest.”

“Seems a good plan as any.”

 

-BTG-

 

“What do you mean there is no manifest?”

The conductor shrugged his shoulders, his eyes never left his book. Hughes slammed his hand on the man’s desk in the small shack which served as his office when the train wasn’t running. 

“Paperwork doesn’t just disappear.”

“Uh-nope, but it sure do burn.” The conductor flipped the page of his magazine inside of his book. 

Hughes drew in a deep breath and adjusted his glasses. “Listen sir,” he bit out, trying to sound calm. “I really need to know what happened to the train manifests from Risembool.”

The man finally sighed, “listen kid, I said what I said; all paperwork from Risembool was lost in a fire, nothing I or you can do about it. Not even those fancy-smancy alchemists and their devil magic could put things right.” He reached underneath his desk and placed a sign that read: “Away at lunch”, then settled back to read his literature.

“Sir.”

“Ain’t no one here.”

“I can still see you, you didn’t go anywhere. Listen, please there has to be a copy of all the paperwork somewhere!”

“On my break.”

After a few more aggravating minutes, Hughes left the conductor’s office and stood on the platform watching the train. He glanced around, before sprinting into the train. He had hoped the the conductor kept an on-hand passenger list. It was required at all train stations when the war first broke out. He checked every nook and cranny but his search was fruitless. He was sweating in his thick uniform and he sat dejected, in the stifling heat of the train car.

“None of this makes sense!”

“Does the world ever make sense?”

Hughes’ hand went to his pocket where he kept his knives. The voice had come from an old Ishvalan man sitting a few rows ahead of him. Why hadn’t he noticed him before?

The old man raised his bushy eyebrows to reveal bright, red eyes. “You won’t find what you need here.”

Hughes decided to take the bait. “And where will I find it?”

The old man chuckled, then lifted a trembling finger to the window. Hughes followed his gaze, on the other side of the train platform was a small marketplace.

“And what will I find there?”

“The Truth,” the man whispered. He leaned back against his seat and sighed. When it was clear he was done speaking, Hughes moved to leave. 

“Those girls aren’t what they seem, Lieutenant, better watch your back.”

Hughes whirled around but the old man was gone. “I’m losing my mind, those girls will be the death of me.” He stepped off the train and weaved his way to the marketplace nonetheless.

 

-BTG-

 

Amy hummed to herself as she started sponging her patient. She made sure to take care with lifting his arms and being gentle as possible to keep the man comfortable. 

“So we decided to name you Basil Heidrich,” Amy whispered, as she looked down at the man. She moved her hand from his arm to his chest. The man’s muscle tone had decreased exponentially in his time unconscious and she was starting to fear he would never wake up.

“...fearless...” she heard as she looked up at the man’s face. His eyes were barely open as she looked to him. 

“I’m sorry?” she asked, as she set the sponge aside to look at him properly.

“The name… It means brave and fearless,” the man said, as he pushed himself to try and sit up. Amy helped him move into a sitting position and propped him up with pillows so he would be more comfortable.

“Then it fits. How are you feeling?

“Tired, my face feels sore.”

“That's the healing process. Your face is still healing from the trauma.” Amy smiled. 

“How long have I been asleep?”

“A little over a month but you have been healing.”

“Where am I?”

“That is where the problem comes in and I need you to stay calm when I tell you.”

“Stay calm. Where am I?” his eyes darted around the room.

“Sir, I really need you to be calm while I explain everything. If you don’t stay calm it will be catastrophic for the both of us,” Amy said, placing her hand on the man’s chest.

He examined her face and seeing the clear honesty, rested himself back against the pillows. 

“To be able to heal you and thank-you for saving my life, my sister and I smuggled you into the Amestrian camp. You are here under the belief you are an Ishvalan-Amestrian soldier injured in combat.”

“You have me in the enemy camp.” The man shook. His hand crackled with electricity and Amy stood back pressing herself back to the wall.

“You were dying. I did this to save you!” Amy pleaded with him as she watched him freeze distracted by the electricity skimming across his arm. 

“What is...Who did this to me?”

“That was how we found you. Your arm was like that when we met,” Amy said, calmly as she stepped forward and slowly reached out touching him. He flinched when her hand settled on his arm, for a split second Amy feared she would lose her arm but then the electricity die down.

“We will get you out of here, I promise.”

“You have me sharing space with the murderers of my people.” He tried to get up from the bed but collapsed.

“You’re weak.” 

He glared at her.

“Your body hasn’t had any solid foods in about month, remember.” She helped settle him back into the bed. “I’ll bring you food if you promise not to leave this room.”

 

-BTG-

 

Maes stood in the shade of a crumbling building. He lightly thumped his head on the wall. He had been out here for a good three hours already and he was beginning to think that the old man had sent him on a wild goose chase. No one seemed to know the twins, and most shied away when he approached them. He checked his watch; he had another twenty minutes before he had to go report for duty.

“Excuse me sir.” The voice was gruff and none too apologetic. Maes still moved out of the way as an elderly man rolled a small wheelbarrow passed him. The man gave him the stink eye. “You soldiers poking your nosy heads where they don’t belong. Instead of standing here and doing nothing why haven’t any of you found the miscreants that ruined my stall! This is my livelihood we are talking about!”

The man was screaming at him and people turned to stare. In order to placate the man, Hughes pulled out his notebook. 

“Sir, I would love to help, actually, I was just here to follow up on your case.”

The man looked him up and down, then harumphed. “It’s been three years!”

“Yes, well we have been terribly delayed with the current incursions.”

“Call it for what it is boy.” The man pushed his wheelbarrow which was full of colorful fruits towards his stall. The surrounding stalls all had fabric coverings but this one had a wooden awning. Maes tapped the wooden beams that held up the makeshift roof.

“Expecting hail?” he asked lightheartedly.

The old man sneered. “I don’t want any more people destroying my fruit!”

Maes gazed around him, a few kids kicked a worn leather ball back and forth. 

“It wasn’t those kids.” The man followed his gaze, “it was those two girls!”

Hughes’ ears perked up. “What girls?”

“The two that fell from the sky three years ago! Just swooped out of nowhere, crushed my fruit, then ran towards the train.”

“Tell me everything that happened.”

 

-BTG-

 

“This doesn’t make your case, Maes.” Roy scribbled in his notebook. He was near the end of it, the previous pages were full of alchemic notes and symbols. 

Maes chucked the notebook over his shoulder. “Enough with the witchcraft, I need your help investigating these two.”

“For the last time, Hughes, it’s science not magic.” Roy sighed and rubbed his temples, “Maes, no one is going to listen to the ramblings of a senile old man. If the manifests and paperwork is a no go, I’d say interview their neighbors, family, that sort of thing.”

Hughes tapped his chin, “unfortunately, I’m not due for leave for another month or so.”

“And pissing off the colonel won’t expedite that.”

Hughes snapped his fingers and grabbed Roy’s notebook. He ignored his friend’s yells and tore out the last few pages.

“What are you doing?”

“Writing,” Hughes paused to smirk at Roy. “There’s more than one way to get to know someone.”

 

-BTG-

 

Cassi smiled as she walked to the back room, her eyes on the tray in hand. She leaned into the door to open it and walked over to table by her sister. 

“How’s our patient doing?” Cassi asked, as she turned to her sister.

“Being impatient,” Amy grumbled, glaring at Basil. 

“I wish to go home.” Basil glared as Cassi jumped at hearing the voice of the man.

“Holy crap on a cracker!” Cassi held her hand to her chest, staring at the man her sister was holding to the bed.

“Cassi, please tell this stubborn mule about the dire situation we are in at this moment,” Amy said, glaring down at the man.

Cassi stared at her twin in shock before taking several breaths before she calmly walked over to the man. 

“Alrightly. Sir, let me illuminate you on the shitastic situation we are in.”

“Cassi!”

“Amy! Look, sir we are risking our lives here for you. We had to smuggle you into get you the proper treatment you need and forge documents to keep you hidden. If we are caught, it’s not just you who dies. My sister and I will lose our lives, all the men in this building… they will die too.”

“Why do your lives matter to me? Why do the lives of these men matter to me? Ishvalla will smile upon me for taking down those who kill his people.” 

“Oh my God Amy. Seriously!” Cassi growled, to her twin.

“Cassi be calm.”

“You have us risking our necks for the equivalent of a suicide bomber!”

“You made me a demon.”

“No, we saved your ass. For saving your ass, you are going to be quiet so we can smuggle you out of this forsaken desert.”

“Why should I listen to you? You are a Ghost, one of the many who have come into my country to kill my people.”

“Fuck! Do you want to die!” Cassi yelled, glaring down at the man, tears welling in her eyes.

Amy looked to the door in worry as she walked to it poking her head out for a minute before closing the door.

“Because that is what's going to happen. It won’t be some glorified scripture. There will be no parades in the streets in your honor. It will be you, my sister, me, and any other Ishvalan in this building; They will line us all up in the field blindfolded and tied to a post….then...they will open fire,” Cassi gasped out, as she gripped the sheets of his bed shaking.

Amy looked at her sister in worry and rubbed her back. She looked down at her twin and watched as she stiffened up and brushed her hand away. 

“We did not waste a month of our lives working to save you just for you to fucking ruin it.” Cassi growled, out into his face leaning down.

“Ghosts don’t cry. You are cold, emotionless demons. You feel no pain.”

“Jesus Christ! Have you no mind!”

Amy quickly looped her arms under that of her sisters and pulled her away from the man on the bed. He watched Amy struggle with her twin as she held her twin away. She watched Cassi as tears flowed down her face from anger, pain, and frustration and watched Amy wince as she held firm. 

“I can do all things through him who strengthens me,” he recited. 

Cassi slowed her struggle as Amy looked to the man. 

“I will bite my tongue and hold firm for the Lord is with me and if it is His will that I may be saved to live and learn of the lives of the white man far better than the words I have been told then I will.” 

Cassi stared at him in shock as Amy released her and stepped forward.

“That’s great. Let’s go over your story, we have very little time.”

“Story?”

“Let’s start with something simple. Hi, I am Amy and this is my sister Cassi, it is very nice to meet you Basil Heiderich.”


End file.
